The Walking Dead: Fight for Survival
by Assassin's Creed Master
Summary: Sequel to "only trying to do the right thing". More than two years have passed since the events of Savannah. Lee Everett, with his girlfriend Carley and his adopted daughter Clementine, struggle to fight for survival in this terrible world
1. Chapter 1: the journey to Wellington

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 1: the journey to Welling****ton. **

* * *

The sun was covered up from the clouds of the sky, sending cold weather all across the country. The undead walkers, however, were not affected by this morning, and continued to walk into nowhere, looking for anything alive that they could devour into.

Down below in the middle of the Carolina woods, the couple Lee Everett and his girlfriend Carley with their adoptive daughter, Clementine walked through the woods as they carefully tried to avoid any walkers or any people that may try to rob them.

It had been two years since the events of Savannah and ever since then; the trio had stuck together like a family and looked out for one and other. They had been going place to place for safety and one day came across a bitten person, who told them about a place called Wellington before he died, and Wellington was supposed to be a safe zone.

Lee did not look that much different over the couple of years. His facial hairs had grown a little more and he store wore the same purple shirt and wore dark blue jeans very familiar ones he wore when all this began.

Carley did not look so much different either. She still wore the same purple coat with a green shirt and blue jeans. Her hair has grown a little longer but her height did not seem to grow much either.

As for Clementine, she looked completely different over the two years. She now wore a long white shirt with a purple t-shirt over it; she wore grey pants, and still had the same hat her dad gave her. Her skin color had got darker, and now she had her hair cut short with the loose ends tied into two separate ends.

The trio continued walking through the woods with Lee leading the way the entire way. All they had to defend themselves were Carley's Glock 17 she always carried with her and Lee carried Browning Automatic Rifle Safari strapped onto his back.

"Everyone alright?" Lee inquired, scanning the area for any walkers that may be lurking around.

"Yeah, we're fine." Carley assured, looking down towards Clementine who had been silent since they woke up this morning from the camp. "You okay, Clementine?"

Clementine did not answer her question and continued following Lee through the woods. Ever since she witnessed her parents has walkers, whatever child innocence she had in her were gone, and she sometimes felt like she was going to lose all hope for humanity. She may be a little girl, but she had the mind of an adult.

The trio remained silent while they continued their journey through the forest. Hopefully they were able to find some shelter by tonight, otherwise they were going to be in the cold all night and they might not survive without much shelter. But even worse, they knew if you die and the brain is not destroyed, then you will turn into one of them.

Walkers. Walkers were the only thing they feared for the rest of their lives in this God-forsaken world. All of may be slow of course (hence the nickname "Walkers") but they possessed incredible strength, easily capable of breaking down doors, and now that they had pretty much wiped out most of America's population, they out-numbered mankind, and those who survived needed to do anything now just to survive

"Lee, what are we going to do?" Carley asked, breaking the silence while moving her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm. "Just keep running for the rest of our lives?"

"We'll find somewhere to hold up, I promise." Lee promised while keeping his eyes locked forward as they walked through the woods together.

The sound of a twig breaking shot through Lee's eardrums, loud enough for him to hear, and in an act of panic, he placed his hand up to beckon for the two to halt in their tracks. "Shhhh, quiet. I can hear something."

Carley nodded as she moved her hand into her pocket and held her Glock 17 into the air in case they ran into any unwanted attention. She kept Clementine close to her while her boyfriend investigated the area.

Lee took cover behind a tree, clutching his rifle as tight as he could, and preparing to pull the trigger. He carefully leaned his head over the tree, spotting two figures in the corner of his eye. He turned around fully and aimed his rifle into the area they were in.

Two walkers were crouched upon the ground, eating what use to be a person. The sight and smell of dead corpses caused Lee to groan in disgust, sometimes unable to even look it. He would usually just go around them to save ammunition, but they were blocking the way they were heading and going around them in the grass might not be sure a good idea.

Lee beckoned for the other two to carefully sneak over to him without making any noise. He turned towards Carley to inform her of the situation. "Two walkers blocking our way. We can't shoot them."

"We don't have any melee weapons, Lee." Carley reminded him, at the same time, searching her pockets with her free hand just to be sure.

Clementine took note of what they were saying and pulled out something from her back pocket that she showed Lee. "Lee, I found this back at that camp where that dead dog was. Looks sharp."

Lee raised a slight smile as he accepted the knife into his hand, remembering a couple of years ago to when he first met Clementine and how intelligent she was than to other girls. "Thanks, Clem. Does look useful...Just this knife."

"Yeah, just the knife." Clementine answered, crossing her arms together and glaring over towards the two walkers enjoying their meal. And this caused her to groan in disgust. "Eww."

"Here, Carley. You take this." Lee handed her the knife to stab one of the walkers. After all, he was stronger and was capable of uses his rifle as a melee weapon. "You stab the one on the right. I will get the one the left."

"Go it." Carley agreed, flipping the knife towards the ground rather than facing upwards.

"Clem, you stay here." Lee ordered, turning his rifle around onto the opposite side, wielding it like the axe he use to own back at the motor inn.

Clementine wished Lee did not try and treat her like a little kid anymore. He may have cut her hair, trained her to use a gun, and how to survive, but he still treated her like the little girl he met in that treehouse when all of this started. She crossed her arms as her two guardians advanced on the walkers.

Lee and Carley slowly approached the walkers from behind, their weapons clutched tight in their hands. Upon standing only a couple of feet away from them, Lee and Carley both simultaneously struck their weapons into the two walker's skulls, killing them instantly.

Lee rose up his rifle and strapped it back over across his back. He shifted his attention over to Carley, who was struggling to retrieve her weapon out from the walkers. He encouraged her as she continued to pull as hard as she could with all of her strength. "You can do it, hon'. Just give it a good pull."

Carley nodded while exhaling a deep breath. She gave the knife one more tug, and finally, it came free. She almost fallen over, but Lee was more than happy enough to catch her. "Thanks."

"Alright. We should keep moving." Lee suggested, resuming his marching towards the path they were heading down with his girlfriend and adoptive daughter tagging behind.

Once they were back on the road, the trio remained quiet yet again. Ever since the events of Savannah, the three had always wondered if things could have been different or not. Kenny had offered them to chance to ride with him on that boat, but they allowed Omid and Christa to take their place, and this was a little mistake when Lee knew something the rest of the group didn't...

Christa was pregnant.

Lee knew by multiple hints that were shown during the time he knew them. When they met, Omid and Christa were talking about it before Lee got to the top of the bridge, Omid was really excited when he first met Clementine, and to top it off, Christa had vomited shortly after Lee dug up the grave of the dead dog.

He did not confess this to Clementine or Carley, but it hoped he could when the time was right. All that matters right now is finding somewhere safe for tonight, and then continue their journey to Wellington.

* * *

After around an hour of walking through the forest, the trio's luck had finally turned around and they find a place to stay for the night. They had stumbled upon a cabin in the middle of the backwoods of North Carolina. It looked like a great place to hold up for the night, but the question of it being occupied still remained. If it was people, that would be bad, but if it was walkers, than that would be twice as worse.

Lee poke his head over the log they were taking cover behind to see a cabin in the middle of the woods, and it did not look like anyone was home. "It looks empty. Maybe we can hold up there."

Carley crawled towards her boyfriend like an army soldier would, and she too, poke her head over the log to investigate it. She had to admit it looked nice, but she would still prefer a nice condo any day. "Think there's anyone in there?"

"Only one way to find out." Lee admitted, taking his rifle of from his back into his grip. Being as cautious as he could, Lee slowly marched towards the cabin with his rifle holstered.

He made his way over to the nearest window, and being as quiet as a mouse, Lee slowly poke his head up to see through the window, and hopefully, no-one was home. He looked inside to see it was a clean cabin with couches and a few decorations hanging on the walls.

He continued checking the same room again for a moment but could clearly see no-one was home and it was all clear. Lee raised a smile as he began walking back towards Clementine and Carley back near the log. "Hey! Its all clear-"

"Don't move, asshole!"

Lee gasped and swiftly turned around in the quick of an act. He did not have the time to hold up his weapon when six people were standing in front of the cabin and to make things worse, three of them were carrying weapons, each aiming towards Lee.

One of them looked Spanish and wore a checkered shirt, only one of them was a woman and she looked pregnant, one of them was quite big, one of them looked quite old and was aiming a crossbow towards Lee, one of them resembled a lot like Kenny but younger and held a Winchester Model 70 to Lee, and a man in an orange shirt aimed a Glock 17 towards him.

Lee dropped the rifle to the ground and raised his hands in the air in surrender. He hoped they were not like the Save-Lot Bandits or the St. Johns. "Look, I-"

"Who the fuck are you people?!" a man who looked like Kenny but younger inquired, aiming his rifle towards them.

"I didn't come for trouble. Me, my girlfriend, and my daughter were looking for a place to stay. We're sorry." Lee apologized, turning his head around for a moment where he could see Carley and Clementine had surrounded themselves, too, keeping their hands in the air.

"Are you with Carver?!" the pregnant woman inquired, yelling as her friends held them at gunpoint.

"Who the fuck is Carver?!" Lee inquired, arching an eyebrow with his hands still rose in the air.

"We're the ones asking the questions here." the crossbow man said, speaking in a voice that sounded very familiar to Danny St. Johns.

Lee kept his hands raised as the man with the cap and the man in the green coat aimed their weapons at them, obviously demanding answers. "Look, we were just looking for a place to stay. Put the gun down, man."

"Fuck that!" the man with the cap refused.

He continued looking towards each member of the group while keeping his hands rose of course. Lee was unsure what to do and feared for his life if he did not say something soon. He tried to think of a way to explain his actions before any of them even thought about the pulling the trigger.

* * *

**Lee, Clementine and Carley are back, and now they are trying to make their way to Wellington, but looks like they caught some trouble on the way. As you know, this is a sequel to "_only trying to do the right thing_" and it ties in with season 2 game.**


	2. Chapter 2: the cabin

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 2: the cabin**

**Hey, everyone, hope you are enjoying this sequel so far, and with Episode 3 of Season 2 almost being released, I will be able to publish more chapters since I am tying in the story with season 2. Here's chapter 2, everyone, hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Lee tried not to show fear as he was still being held at gunpoint by three of the six members. Clementine and Carley had suddenly emerged from where they were hiding, keeping their hands raised in the air.

The man who looked Spanish folded his arms together as he looked over Lee's shoulder, seeing the young girl with her hands raised, too. He looked back towards his group, showing a change of expression. "They have a little girl with them."

The other group took note of this and looked over towards Clementine, who felt slightly nervous as each one of them glared towards her. The man in the orange shirt and the other one with the crossbow lowered their weapons down slightly, but as for the man who resembled Kenny, he still kept his rifle raised towards them.

"Nick, put the gu-" the man with the crossbow was about to push his nephew's gun down, but in act of panic, he had fired his gun, almost hitting Lee in the process. The crossbow man angrily snatched the gun out from his hand. "Nick!"

The gunshot rang through the entire area, startling everyone

"What the fuck!?" Lee swore, swiftly picking up his rifle again when they were not looking and kept their attention focused on the man with the cap.

Carley quickly took her chance to act and pulled out her Glock 17 and aimed it towards them. She stood in front of Clementine in a protective manner, already picking her target: the man with the cap. And he would not be hard to miss since she was an excellent marksman.

The man with the orange shirt aimed his weapon towards Lee again; fearing that he was going to shoot now that they had just gave him the perfect opportunity to get their weapons.

"You idiot!" the pregnant woman cursed; annoyed to what he has just done that may have consciences after wards. "Every lurker for five miles probably heard that!"

"Hey, we don't know this people!" the man with the hat clashed.

"Everyone just calm down for a minute." the man with yellow glasses suggested, sensing the situation was about to get bad if he did not step in and do something soon.

The Spanish man marched towards the three, standing only a few feet away. He seemed to have a change of attitude towards them once he noticed they had a child with them. "You say you're not with Carver?"

"We don't know any Carver." Lee assured them, raising rifle down now that he was no longer being held at gunpoint. "Look, we're sorry if we disturbed you folks. We'll just turn around and go, and I swear, you will never see us again."

The Spanish man looked back towards the cabin entrance when he heard the door open from the inside. His expression changed back into a serious one as he glared back towards the cabin.

A young girl who looked a couple of years older than Clementine but quite taller poke her head out from the door, either noticing they had guests or worried to why there was a gunshot a moment ago. "Who are they?"

"Sarah, what did I say? Get back inside." the Spanish man ordered, raising his voice slightly in a worried yet serious manner.

The young girl now known as 'Sarah' obeyed his wishes and moved back inside the cabin, closing the door behind her.

After they were gone, Lee looked back towards both the Spanish man and the cabin, and put two and two together, realizing that he must be her father since they shared the same skin color. He had an idea, and hopefully, it would work. "Look, uh, was that your daughter?"

"That's none of your business." he snapped, showing that he was extremely protective of his daughter by his attitude and sudden change of expression.

"Look, I know how you feel man. Clementine here is my family, too, and I know how it feels to try and protect them the best you can." Lee explained, showing that they were both not so different from one and other.

The Spanish took note to what he said and folded his arms together while he shifted his attention over towards each member of the cabin. The man with the crossbow and the man with the orange shirt gave him supportive nods. As for the rest of them, they remained neutral for now. He shifted his attention back towards Lee, but at the same time, keeping his attention on Clementine. "She's your daughter, then?"

Lee was about to answer with "yes", but to show them they were not bad people; he decided to be honest with them. After all, honesty is important nowadays. "No. She lost her real parents a long time ago. Me and my girlfriend are just doing what we can for her."

The Spanish man still had a couple of doubts about these random strangers, but something inside of him was telling him to give them a chance. "Why don't you come in? You can stay for tonight but have to be gone by tomorrow."

"Thanks. We appetite it." Lee assured, giving a slight nod to his girlfriend for a moment before he decided to introduce himself properly to the cabin group. "I'm Lee, and this is Carley and Clementine."

"Carlos." the Spanish man introduced, gesturing his arms to each of that cabin members while he spoke each of their names. "This is Luke, Pete, Nick, Rebecca, and Alvin."

"I hate to interrupt, but it's going to rain soon." Pete interrupted, stating the obvious as he looked up towards the dark clouds. "We should get inside."

The others agreed and made their way inside of the cabin to take shelter from the storm before it hit. But it did look like a great place for Lee, Carley, and Clementine to hold up for the night before continuing their journey up North to Wellington.

* * *

An hour or so had passed since the cabin group allowed the trio to stay for tonight, and during this time, they got to know the three a little better. Lee had a different opinion on each of the cabin group members while he got settled in.

Luke and Pete seemed like good people, Carlos acted a little protective and paranoid but was still a good guy, Nick he did not like so much at the moment since he could have killed him out there earlier than firing that gun, or worse, attracted walkers. He did not have the chance to talk with Rebecca and Alvin due to her showing an untrusting attitude towards them. But this may be because of her pregnancy.

Inside the main living room of the cabin, Lee and Carley sat together one of the couches with Luke and Pete sitting on the opposite side, sitting on another couch. Clementine was not present at the moment and was in the kitchen eating some food Luke was kind enough to give her.

Lee had just finished telling them their entire story in this God-forsaken world and how they wound up here in the middle of the Carolina woods. It was a lot to take in, but worth listening to.

"Wow. A lot of happened to you people." Luke admitted, unsure of what to say exactly about their story. "This Kenny you mentioned, what do you think happened to him, his family, and those other two you mentioned?"

"Not sure." Lee admitted, scratching the top of his head for a moment. He was about to mention to them about Wellington, but then changed his mind so some reason. "Maybe he found somewhere safe. I don't know."

"Well, hope he and his family are well." Pete wished, raising a smile slightly while he stood up from where he was sitting down. "Well, I think we all need to get our winks because I'm going fishing tomorrow and I could do with some help. Hmm, wouldn't that be nice? Now let's get some shuteye. This place is lit up like a beacon in the middle of the woods."

"Right, I'll help out." Luke replied, standing up with the older man and following him out of the room. He turned back towards the two before he left. "You can both sleep on those couches, and there are some blankets in the closet. Sorry, we ain't got any more rooms."

"Thanks Luke. We appetite it." Lee assured, giving him a friendly nod.

Luke returned the friendly nod before following Pete out of the living room.

* * *

Meanwhile, Clementine had excused herself from her dinner to go to the bathroom. Alvin was kind enough to show her where it was, and already, she could tell this man was nice. She made her way upstairs and was supposed to enter the door on the left, but her memory slipped and she accidently walked into the wrong room.

Inside, Sarah was lying against her bed with a book in her hands. She gasped slightly when Clementine had accidently walked inside, but it took her a matter of seconds to calm herself down.

"Sorry." Clementine apologized, about to leave the room before she caused any trouble. "Wrong room."

"No, wait!" Sarah called her back for a moment, not wanting her to go yet. "Why don't you stay? Just for a few minutes? Please?"

Clementine arched a curious eyebrow to why the older girl wanted her to stay but nevertheless, she agreed to her request and walked inside, closing the bedroom door behind her. She stood a couple of feet away and observed the book in the Sarah's hands, not expecting to see people still reading. "What are you reading?"

"A book." Sarah answered like it was obvious.

"What book? I like books." Clementine admitted.

"It's called the Guurgles." Sarah replied, setting her book down with the pages still open to speak to the young girl standing in front of her. "It's about trans-dimensional body snatchers."

"...Cool." Clementine simply replied, not really knowing how to respond.

"I'm Sarah." Sarah introduced herself, standing up from her bed, revealing herself to be quite taller than Clementine.

"I'm Clementine." Clementine introduced herself too, deep down, she was a little happy to finally meet someone not too far from her age.

"We're friends. Right?" Sarah asked, obviously eager to befriend another girl almost her age. "We can be best friends-I haven't met another girl my age since way before. It's hard to be the only girl, you know? Rebecca is okay, but she's old. And that's it. And if the baby's a girl then it'll be FOREVER because she's old enough to, like, be my friend. And then I'll be super old."

Despite Clementine feeling a little uncomfortable by Sarah's childlike behavior, she decided this girl felt like she needed a friend, and decide to give friendship a try. "Yes, we're friends."

"Promise?" Sarah asked. "It's important. Friends have to trust each other no matter what. Do you promise or not?"

"I promise." Clementine promised

"Me too. Friends." Sarah smiled, holding out her pinky finger on her right hand for her and Clementine to pinky swear. She watched as Clementine accepted her pinky swear and that gave her a little hope. "A pinky swear is forever."

"Yeah, I know." Clementine smiled, ending the pinky shake.

Before long, Clementine finally decided that she leave the room before Carlos un-expectantly walked inside and only assumed the worse. She bidden Sarah farewell and left her bedroom, and she had to admit, it was nice to meet someone her own age. She liked Carley of course, but like Sarah, Clementine thought Carley was good as a friend but just a little told too old.

* * *

Back downstairs, after the two men had exited the room, the young man who resembled Kenny known as 'Nick' by his uncle had walked into the room. He sat down on the opposite side of the two with an apologetic expression across his face. "Hey, look...I'm sorry for...Well, being a dick out there and almost shooting you. It's just; we let in strangers once...And..."

"And what?" Carley inquired.

"And they were bit, and we tried to take care of it. But I lost my mom that day." Nick admitted, trying his best to hold back tears the best he could. He got back up onto his feet and made his way out of the living room, but stopped and turned back to the duo for a moment. "Hope you understand."

Lee was about to answer with declining his apology, but he had a change of heart when he remembered what it was like to lose someone you are close with. He knew this because of his parents and his brother's deaths when all this began, and he was the one who had to put down his brother. "...Yeah...We do."

Nick raised a slight smile across his face but decided to leave the two alone and head back to his bedroom.

* * *

Clementine was back in the kitchen after befriending Sarah cabin, and now she had almost finished the food that Luke had given her and now she felt like she needed to rest. While she was sitting there, Carlos had entered the kitchen without even greeting her and began washing his hands in the sink.

He continued to do so while Clementine continued to eat until he suddenly spoke. "Are you going to be a problem to my daughter?"

"Excuse me?" Clementine replied, wanting to make sure that she had just heard him correctly.

"You talked to her. Are you going to be a problem to my daughter?" Carlos repeated, his voice calm yet slightly serious while he continued to wash his hands in the sink.

"No." Clementine answered, arching a curious eyebrow, wanting to know why Carlos would think her, a little girl, would be a problem. "What makes you think I would do anything like that?"

"Well, if you and your friends are going to stay, there are a few things you need to know about my daughter." Carlos answered, drying his hands with a towel while he stared outside of the window.

"Okay." Clementine slightly nodded, knowing this man was only being protective of his daughter, just like how Lee and Carley was looking out for her.

"She isn't like you. You may not get that initially, but once you're around her for a while you'll understand." Carlos explained, crossing his arms together while looking out of the kitchen window before closing his eyes. Imagining what would happen if Sarah was too know what it was like out there. "If she knew how bad the world is... what it's really like out there... she would...cease to function. She's my little girl. She's all I have left and I would ask that you please not tell her about what it's like out there."

"I won't, I promise." Clementine promised, giving a slight supportive nod to him, despite him being turned around from her view.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." Carlos replied, trusting Clementine to be around his daughter now that she had her promise.

Before long, he left the kitchen to check upon his daughter and put her to bed properly. He sure was not willing to let these new people visit her yet, until he knew they could be trusted.

* * *

A little while later, nighttime had finally risen to its fullest, and everyone who was part of the cabin had tucked in for the night. As for their three guests, they were going to have to sleep on the couch for tonight, but that did not matter as long as they were inside, sheltered from the storm.

Lee and Carley sat together on one of the couches as Lee kept his arm around her. He sighed as he looked over towards Clementine, who had fallen asleep long ago in the arm chair. "Carley, what do you think of these people?"

"I'm not sure." Carley admitted, resting her head down against Lee's shoulder. "What do you think?"

Lee thought about her question for a moment before he looked over towards sleeping Clementine curled up in a ball as she slept. "I'll do whatever's best for Clementine."

"You're still worried about her, aren't you?" Carley inquired, making herself comfortable against his shoulder.

"Of course I am, Carley." Lee admitted, looking towards the young girl who he raised up as his own daughter, trying his best to keep her as safe as possible. He remembered when there were times something could have happened to her like when she got grab by a walker twice but Lee was quick enough to save her. Andy St. John threatened to hurt her and Lee was unable to do anything. She could have been killed by the Bandits, and to top it off, they were trapped in a city full of walkers.

He sighed as he looked over towards Carley and was about to speak further but discovered she had fallen asleep while he had been thinking to himself for too long. He smiled and planted a slight peck on her head before he too decided to get some rest for the night. He would need his energy since he is going to help Pete in the morning catch some fish.

* * *

**Chapter 2 is completed, ladies and gentleman. I hope you will all stay tuned for "Chapter 3: tense situation".**


	3. Chapter 3: massacre

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 3: massacre**

**Thank you all for the reviews so far. I do appreciate a lot and hope all of you stick around for the rest of the story. :D thank you. I also have a a voting poll on my profile about The Walking Dead show and game if you want to check it out and vote.**

* * *

The next morning, Pete had woken everyone up nice and early and woke everyone to get a move on for a new day. The rest of the group stayed behind in the cabin while Pete led Nick and Lee down towards the river where this fish traps were supposed to be.

To be safe, Lee handed his rifle over to Carley and exchanged it for her Glock 17 since he had more experience with pistols and the fact they carried more ammunition. But he did not expect anything to go wrong, and even if they encountered trouble, Pete and Nick both were armed with a Winchester Model 70 each.

Lee and Pete continued to make conversation with each other while they were walking through he woods together, but as for Nick, he had stopped for a moment to take a piss upon a tree, and they both decided to continue out without him.

"So Lee, how is it you made your way all out here?" Pete inquired in a polite tone, but kept his eyes focused towards the path they were walking down.

"We found a survivor a few weeks back, and he got bit, but he told us about a place called Wellington." Lee answered, shifting his eyes towards Pete's rifle when he raised his rifle slightly. "We thought we would try and head there. We were with others, but...You know..."

"It's a tough world out there." Pete admitted, turning sidewards as he carefully slid in-between a gap between barbwire fences. "I got to ask, how old is Clementine?"

"She's eleven...At least I think so." Lee replied, unable to keep count of how many days had passed since the events of Savannah.

Pete continued making his way down towards the river while telling Lee a funny yet shocking story about his nephew. "She was around Nick's age when I first took him hunting. We came across this beautiful buck just standing there. The boy aims his rifle just like I taught him, he had a great shot, but then I hear him start wining, "I can't do it, I can't do it, Uncle Pete, please don't make me shoot it."."

Lee chuckled slightly at Pete's voice when he tried to mimic Nick when he was a kid. But Lee did have to admit it would be tough for a little kid, but he still found it to be quite a funny story. "Man, I don't believe that."

"Hey!"

The duo stopped in their tracks and shifted their attention back towards the way they came where Nick came running down with his rifle clutched in his grip. He panted a couple of times when he finally caught up, and demanded an explanation to being ditched. "Why didn't you wait?"

"You want us standing around while you take a piss on a tree? You know where the river is, Nick." Pete replied, ignoring his nephew and resuming his way down towards the path, continuing his story to Lee. "Anyway, so I go to grab the gun out of his hand, and then BOOM! Boy nearly gut shot me, and of course the buck got away."

Nick angrily glared towards his uncle with a hateful expression, suspecting his uncle was trying to make him look like an idiot again. "Why are you telling him this for?"

"Maybe because you almost shot him yesterday?" Pete suggested, recalling to the previous day as he stopped walking again, knowing there was going to be an argument between them both. "Maybe I'm just trying to show you're not a happy-go kinda gun."

Nick assumed his uncle was just trying to embarrass him again like he did in the past, and he was not willing to just let him get away with it. "Why are you always trying to give me a hard time?"

"Because you give everyone else a hard time." Pete quickly responded, showing a normal expression across his face as they argued.

"I apologized to them last night. Lee and Carley accepted." Nick assured.

"Okay, well I didn't know that." Pete replied.

Lee decided to not get involved between the two since they were family, and nowadays, it was important that family always get along no matter what because family was important now. Heck, it must be the most important thing in this world. He sensed the situation and was about to say something in an attempt to defuse the situation, but was not quick enough.

"Leaving us again?" Pete inquired, followed be a sight in annoyance since he wished Nick would just grow up and stop acting like a little kid.

Nick began to storm off and shoved past the two, not daring to look back towards them with a hateful expression across his face. "I don't need you, Pete, I know where the fucking river is!"

Pete shook his head to both sides for a moment before continuing his way back towards the river whilst continuing the rest of the story to Lee, even despite the fact Nick was frustrated by it. "Anyway, I managed to catch that same buck a little while later and brought it back to my sisters. Nick didn't speak to me for weeks. Sometimes, you got to do the hard thing, even if it means hurting those you love. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I hear you." Lee assured, thinking back to most of the things he did in the past like killing that senator who slept with his wife, helping Duck rather than Shawn, and remembering that woman who got bit and wanted nothing more than to end her suffering. "Nick doesn't hate you though. In this day and age, everyone's just worried, and you got to remember, family is important nowadays."

Pete took note of what the younger man just said, realizing he was right about some of the words he just spoken towards him. "You're right, Lee. You see, Nick's father was not around much, and even when he was, he was nothing but an asshole, so I thought it was more responsible to raise the boy up properly, and I couldn't just be nice-"

"Uncle Pete!" Nick called out to his uncle from a distance, and at the same time, finishing his sentence for him without even knowing.

Lee and Pete made haste and began running towards the river front when hearing Nick calling out to them. Both of them raised their weapons up, suspecting he maybe saw a horde of walkers nearby. When they arrived, Lee and Pete stood beside Nick and what caught their eyes next left them shocked.

Multiple corpses were scattered across the entire area, bullet holes shot in different parts of their bodies and blood smeared across their bodies and dripping towards the ground. It was massacre, but the question of who did this was yet to be answered.

"All of them are full of bullet holes." Pete declared, stating the obvious as he carefully hoping over one of the corpses since some of them may not be dead, dead. "Check their bodies for ammo. I only got two shots left."

Lee was shocked to see what had happened here, feeling somewhat like he was going to throw up. He glared over the other side of the river, seeing more corpses on the other side. "There are more of them over there, guys." he said, gesturing his arm over towards the other side of the river.

Pete followed to where he was pointing, seeing the corpses on the other side of the river. "Let's go and check it out. Nick, you stay here. Lee, you search the middle part. I'll go over there."

Lee followed him over the river, but as for Nick, he did not agree with this plan at all, and was worried that whoever did this might still be lurking around. "What are you both doing?! We got to get out of here!"

"Nick, stay calm!" Lee ordered, sensing he was getting worried.

"I don't like this." Nick admitted, raising his rifle up and beginning to scan the area cautiously, fearing trouble was about to happen. "We need to get out of here!" he called out to the older men.

"Nick, when are you doing to realize?" Pete inquired, turning back towards him with an annoyed expression across his face.

"What, that you're both crazy, and that you're an asshole?" Nick inquired, groaning slightly under his breath.

"That nobody is going to care if you like something or not!" Pete clashed; again, wishing his nephew would just grow up and begin acting like an adult rather than the young kid who once almost shot him. "You got to grow up, son."

Nick merely groaned in frustration and turned his back towards his uncle. He began searching some of the corpses though nevertheless, but if he did find ammo, he would have most likely taken the ammo for himself.

Lee stood in the middle area of the river where he spotted more corpses around the area. He kept his attention focused on the one that had reanimated into a walker and was now trying to reach out towards Lee for a fresh meal, but a spear impaled his stomach kept him from getting up.

"Poor fucker." Lee mumbled to himself, decided that he should put this walker out of its misery and end its suffering. He held his foot against his strength to keep him down while he grabbed onto the spear and pulled it out from its stomach. He grunted as he slammed the spear down directly into the walker's forehead, killing it instantly.

Now that he was not going to be walking anywhere again, Lee knelt down and checked it's corpses for anything useful, but all he found in its pockets were a few bucks and money did not matter anymore. He stood up to full height and another corpse caught his attention in the corner of his eye, and his curiosity got the best of him.

He marched over towards the corpse that still seemed moving but it did not look like it was snarling. Instead, it looked like it was breathing still. Lee got to the other side of the walker and was shocked to see the man was still alive. He looked Caucasian-American, around his middle thirties, and had longish black hair with a moustache.

Lee felt somewhat sympathy for this man and did want to help him, but there was nothing he could do and this man was going to die. He took note of the man still being conscious and even tried to communicate with him. He knelt down to him, nudging his arm slightly. "Hey, what happened? Can you hear me?"

The man merely groaned and spat blood out from the inside of his mouth. He struggled to get his words out to this completely stranger, but he was too weak to speak properly. "Uh...Uhh...W...Wa...Water..."

Lee noticed the word "water" in his sentence, assuming he needed a drink. He shook his head slightly in response. "Sorry, I don't have any water, man. Now do you remember what happened?"

The man tried his best to respond, but he was too weak from blood loss, and slowly, he began to close his eyes, unable to communicate any further though he did not say much. Lee shook his shoulder in an attempt to wake him back up.

Lee suddenly bolted up in an act of panic when hearing a scream nearby, followed by a gunshot. He shifted his attention over towards the side of the river where Pete was investigating, and the older man had jumped back when a walker had suddenly appeared from the ground that he was able to shoot. "Argh!"

"Pete!" Lee called out to him, and was even prepared to charge over to assist him.

Nick panicked when hearing his uncle scream and shouted out to him from the other side of the river. "Uncle Pete!"

"I'm fine! Just lost my footing!" Pete assured, panting slightly as he was shocked to the sudden attack, but unfortunately for him, that was not the only problem he had to worry about. He closed his eyes and mumbled to himself. "Dammit! God-dammit!"

Lee arched an eyebrow to why he was so upset if he had managed to shoot the walker. He looked down near Pete's leg, and his eye widened when he noticed a bite mark at the bottom of his right leg. "Holy shit!" Lee gasped, realizing there was nothing he could do to save him.

Before anyone could even blink, growling and snarling noises echoed from the trees where multiple walkers emerged from the woods on both sides. Gunshots were fired from the other side of the river by Nick, whom called out to the duo as he continued firing as many shots as he could towards the walkers surrounding him. "Shit, lurkers!"

Pete raised his rifle too and fired at the closest walker, but when he pulled the trigger again, he discovered he was out of ammo. "Shit, I'm out of ammo! Both of you get over here!"

"I'll cover you!" Nick assured, thinking it was safer for his uncle and friend to come their way instead. "I got ammo!"

"Dammit, Lee, Nick, get over here, now!" Pete ordered, knowing there was not as many walkers on his side, and this gave them more of the chance to escape.

Lee constantly turned towards both men, trying to decide who he should go with. He looked towards Pete, and confirmed he was right about his side being safe, but he also knew Pete was bitten. Nick's side was clearly not safe at all, but Nick was still armed with ammunition and it was the way they came from, but then again, Nick was not exactly the greatest marksmen in the world.

Running out of time on trying to decide who to help, Lee pulled out his Glock 17 and charged towards where Pete was standing as fast as he could go. For someone who is now thirty-nine-years-old, he still was able to run like an athlete.

Pete waved his arm out to both men, calling out to them as loud as he could. "Come on! Come on!" he suddenly panicked when a walker tackled him down against a nearby boulder when he was not looking. He placed his good leg upon the walker's stomach in an attempt to hold it back. "Jesus!"

Lee raised his weapon up when seeing Pete fighting with the walker, knowing he was going to have to shoot now or he would be devoured by walkers. He fired two shots, one hit the walker in the shoulder, but the second shot hit the walker in between its eyes, killing it instantly.

"Pete, you okay!?" Lee inquired; taking his hand and helping him stand back up despite him being bit right now.

Pete did not have the time to answer and already, he feared for his nephew's safety. He looked over towards the other side of the river where Nick had not listened to him and continued to fire his remaining rounds towards every walker nearby. Lee sure wished he brought his Browning Automatic Rifle Safari with him now. "Nick!"

Lee panicked as he raised his Glock 17 and fired multiple shots towards the horde of walkers coming towards him. He looked over to the other side of the river where he could see the other man was fighting over walkers by using his rifle as a melee weapon. "Shit! We got to help him!"

Pete agreed, and attempted to run over towards his nephew, but his bitten leg made this difficult. Lee continued to cover him by firing his Glock 17 towards the walkers emerging from the woods.

"Nick, hold on!" Pete yelled, limping as he tried to get to the other side of the river to help his nephew. "Nick!"

On the other side of the river, Nick froze for a moment as the walkers were standing only a couple of feet away from him. He had no ammunition left and wouldn't be able to fight them off forever. In an act of panic to escape, Nick turned around and ran back into the woods to evade the horde of walkers, hopefully heading back towards the cabin.

"God-dammit, Nick!" Pete called out to him for a second time, yelling at the top of his lungs, but it was no use and his nephew had vanished into the woods.

"We can't help him! We got to go!" Lee ordered, grabbing his arm as he leaded them both into the woods, and hopefully, they could outrun the horde of walkers chasing them.

Pete did not want to leave, but he had no choice if he wanted to survive a little longer. He followed Lee into the woods, limping as fast as he could in an attempt to outrun the walkers that was easy in the past, but with his bite and his old age, Pete was not as quick as he use to be.

They both prayed they were going to make it out of this okay, and hoped Nick was going to be okay on his own. It sure was not going to be easy to lose the horde of walkers chasing them and get back to the cabin in one peace.

* * *

After a few minutes of running through the woods of Carolina, Lee and Pete tried to keep quiet for as long as they could as walkers could be heard banging against the door from the outside. After they were separated from Nick near the river, the duo was forced to run away and was now hiding in a cigarette truck in an attempt to avoid the pursuing walkers.

Lee grunted as he and Pete locked the door hard enough to make sure it could not been opened at all. Sure, the van was made out from hard steel, but after all, there was nothing wrong with being extra careful.

"That ought to do it." he declared, leaning his back against the inside of the truck wall, panting a couple of times. "Jesus, Nick..."

"What are we going to do?" Lee inquired, sitting down on the opposite side of Pete.

"Not sure." Pete replied, scanning the inside of the truck for anything useful. "I'm just worried about Nick. He's out there somewhere."

"He got away. I'm sure he knows his way back to the cabin." Lee reassured him.

"Maybe, I don't know. God-dammit, Nick." Pete mumbled quietly to himself, nodding his head side-to-side for a moment. "Couldn't just listen to me, could he? If he did, we'd all be in the back of this truck now."

"I'm sure he's fine." Lee replied, standing up so she could go and investigate the truck they were in for anything useful, knowing they may be in here for a while. He looked towards Pete's leg, only just remembering he had been bitten. "Pete, you know you've been bit."

"I know, I ain't stupid." Pete assured, groaning slightly as the unbearable pain of the infection shot through his leg. He looked towards the stacked selves, and spotted something useful that may, just may be able to save his life. "Pass me that hacksaw."

Lee hesitated for a moment to do so, but nevertheless, he obeyed his request and handed him the hacksaw. Pete clutched the hacksaw tight in his grip, knowing what had to be done if he wanted to live. But then again, what if the infection had already spread into his body? He did not know, but for the sake of his nephew, he had to try.

Pete groaned whilst preparing to cut off part of his leg, but then changed his mind all of a sudden and threw the hacksaw away. "Forget it! I would bleed to death before anyone would find us!"

"You think they are looking for us?" Lee inquired.

"Not sure, but I ain't going to make it, Lee." Pete replied, deep down, he was afraid he was going to die from the infection, and worse, he would never see his nephew again.

"I'm going to have a look around." Lee said, changing the subject for a moment as he stood up and made his way over towards the driver and passenger seats.

"Sure." Pete replied, not seeming too bothered about what he was doing. He was too sad that he may not see his nephew again. Sure, his nephew may be an idiot, but the point is, he was his idiot to take care of. After Nick's mother had passed on, Pete made a vow to her that he would protect Nick and be with him no matter what. Pete was so close to death now, and there was nothing he could do the prevent that.

Pete sighed when Lee had returned, and shifted his attention back to the doors when he could hear the walkers banging as hard as they could on the outside. "Bastards ain't lettin' up."

"You think they will get in?" Lee inquired, worried that if he tried to escape, they would easily get him, but also worried if he stayed too long, Pete would reanimate and then he would be trapped in there with him.

"Not sure. Doubt it, though." Pete admitted, trying to get himself comfortable after he suspected they were going to be here for a while. "Better get comfy, Lee. Looks like we're going to be in here for a while."

Lee did not like this idea he was suggestion, and folded his arms together as Pete laid down against the cold metal ground, resting his head in his right arm. He also feared if he went to sleep, he might not wake up if Pete does change. "That's it? We just going to sit here?"

"Would you rather go out there?" Pete inquired, shutting his eyes as he tried to get some sleep, but found it was going to be difficult since the walkers were still trying to get inside, and the thought of him turning into a walker sent fear down his spine.

"Point taken." he replied, sitting himself against the back of the driver's seat, trying to get some sleep for a while to pass the time. Before long, Lee felt himself getting tired, too, and could no longer keep his eyes open for long.

He drifted off to sleep in a matter of seconds, despite the many walkers banging against the truck door outside. Before drifting off, he prayed Pete would not turn into a walker and take a bite out of his neck while he was sleeping.

* * *

**Lee and Pete have been separated from Nick, and now they are both trapped after being surrounded by the horde of walkers. Let us hope they can escape and get back to the cabin before either Pete reanimate into a walker or the walkers outside somehow get in.**


	4. Chapter 4: returning to the cabin

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 4: returning to the cabin**

**"Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?"...Hehe, my apologizes, I was just playing Far Cry 3 before I got to writing this chapter. Anyway, enjoy reading chapter 4, ladies and gentleman.**

* * *

Lee slowly awoken after being trapped inside the back of the cigarette truck for as long as he could remember. He slowly rubbed his eyes to gain his sight back, and the first thing he took note of was it was now nighttime. How long had he been asleep for? He looked towards the back doors and was happy to see the walkers were no longer trying to get in, but what saw him next left him shocked and worried.

Pete was laying against the ground barely moving, his body facing the back doors. Lee was unsure if he had reanimated or not, but he sure was not going to take any chances. "Pete...? You alright?"

The older man did not respond.

"Shit...!" Lee already assumed he was dead, and slowly reached his hand into his back pocket and raised out his Glock 17. He hoped he had not wasted his ammunition back at the river because if he did, and with Pete being by the door, Lee would surely be trapped inside and have no way of killing him.

Being as cautious as he could, Lee slowly crept over towards Pete, trying to make as less noise as possible. He continued doing so until he was only standing a foot away from Pete, and he prayed to God he would not suddenly roll over and take a bite out of him. Lee placed his hand upon his shoulder and shook him slightly while whispering his name out to him. "Pete...? Pete...?"

In the quick of a flash, Pete had suddenly rolled upwards. Lee's instincts kicked in and he jumped out of harm's way before it was too late, landing straight onto his back. He sighed in relief when Pete had not yet reanimated, but it did look like he did not have long left to go before he would come back as one of them.

Pete coughed as he leaned up and pressed his back against the inside of the truck wall. His entire skin looked very pale and he was too weak to move upon his own. He was able to summon the strength to turn his attention over towards Lee, knowing he was not going to last much longer. "You want to hear something' funny? I've been thinking, and I don't want to die. Never thought I'd be the kinda idiot to say something' like that, but there it is. I'm scared, Lee. Jesus, I'm scared. Lee...I ain't going to make it...Lee, can you do something for me?"

Lee nodded in response.

"Can you take care of Nick?" Pete requested, knowing his nephew was still too young to take care of himself at his younger age. "He...He lost almost everything, and I don't know how long it will be before he loses hope. Watch out for him, would ya?"

"I will, Pete." Lee assured him. "I promise."

"Thanks Lee. You're a good guy." Pete complemented, groaning slightly while trying to summon the strength to keep himself a awake. "You should make a break for it. Cabin's only half a mile from here. Just keep heading straight until you find out."

"I wish you could come with me." Lee admitted, a hint of sadness in his voice as he knew it was going to be hard for Nick to not even have the chance to see his uncle during his last moments. "So you could say goodbye to Nick."

"I wish I could, Lee, but I can't." Pete declined, unable to move any part of his body. "Now get going. Don't worry about me."

Lee nodded in agreement with a sad expression across his face. He made his way over to the back doors and slowly pushed up the door, checking if the coast was clear or not. He could see a couple of walkers roaming around the area, but they did not have their interests on the truck and the two men inside anymore.

In the quick of an eye, Lee burst out from the inside of the truck, closing the doors behind him so they did not get inside and leave Pete with a suffering death. He sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him, making his way through the woods with lurkers focusing their attention towards him.

Two walkers blocked his way, but that did not stop him when he knocked one of them over into the other, causing them both to plummet towards the ground. He did not dare look back as he continued running through the early morning of Carolina, hoping he could make it back to the cabin in one peace.

* * *

After running for at least half hour, Lee was on the verge of passing out, not daring to look back towards the woods, but the good news was he finally made it back to the cabin, and lost the herd of walkers that were pursing him

When he arrived towards the back of the cabin, Lee burst open into the kitchen door, panting as he struggled to catch his breath. He closed the door behind him

Inside the kitchen were Carley, Clementine, Carlos and Rebecca who had ran over to them as soon as he entered with worried expressions on their faces.

Clementine was the first to greet Lee after he had been gone for at least a day. She embraced him in a hug near his torso, and Lee returned the hug by kneeling down to her height level. "Lee..."

"Hey, sweat pea." Lee agreed, slowly releasing her out from his embrace but soon felt himself being into another hug by his girlfriend. "Carley."

"Lee, I was so worried!" Carley admitted, resting her head down against his chest that was not that difficult due to her height level.

"Lee!" Carlos greeted, happy and worried at the same that he had returned after so many hours, but took note of the other two not being accounted for. "What happened?! Where's Nick and Pete?!"

"We got attack, at the river." Lee answered, struggling to catch his breath back after running for so long none stop. "We lost Nick. I was with Pete, but he got bit...He stayed behind while I ran."

"And you just left him!?" Rebecca inquired, a hint of anger in his voice like usual.

"Hey, there was nothing I could do!" Lee clashed, gaining an angry expression across his face. "He was took weak to move, and even if I tried to carry him back, both of us wouldn't have made it!"

"Look, Lee, just tell us where you were." Carla requested. At least he seemed to be keeping calm unlike Rebecca.

"We were by that river where Pete wanted to go this morning." Lee quickly answered, leaning against the kitchen counter. "If Pete's alive, I know where he is. But as for Nick, I ain't got o clue."

"Luke and Alvin went looking for you!" Rebecca panicked, shifting towards Carlos. "We need to find them!"

"Hold on-" Carlos ordered, but he was interrupted upon mid-sentence.

"Carlos, my husband is out there!" Rebecca reminded, extremely worried for her husband now that he was out there with Luke. "GET the GUNS!"

Carlos nodded in agreement as he ran out of the next room for a moment to go and fetch the weapons.

As he left, Rebecca returned her attention to Lee, her expression changed from an anger one into a worried one. "Luke and Alvin went out looking for you. I told them not to go! Dammit Luke!"

Seconds later, Carlos had returned with a rifle for Rebecca and a Glock 17 for himself. He handed her the rifle and with hesitation, the duo set out for a better chance of finding their friends.

As they were leaving, Carley stood up and raised her automatic rifle up, wanting to help out in the search for the rest of the cabin group members. "Let me go with you. I'm a good shot."

Carlos hesitated for a moment and turned towards Lee for support. He too was a little concerned for Carley, but he gave Carlos an agreement nod. "Alright, follow us."

Lee and Carley shared a quick kiss and hug with with one and other before she left, wishing her good luck. Carley ran out of the cabin with Rebecca now that they were armed with protection. Everyone prayed they could find Nick, Pete, Alvin and Luke, and bring everyone back here, safe and sound.

Before Carlos left, he had a big favor to ask for Lee, an important one. He stopped for a moment and shifted his attention over towards Lee with an concerned expression "Lee... Can you please watch Sarah? She's upstairs, just distract her, and don't tell her anything"

"I will. I'll take good care of her." Lee assured him, raising a slight smile across his, followed by a supportive nod.

"Thank you." Carlos thanked, but deep down, he was hoping he did not make a mistake of trusting his daughter's life with the older man. "We'll be back soon. Just stay inside, and don't open the doors for anything!"

Lee and Clementine watched as Carlos finally left to join the others, followed by closing the door behind him. The duo were now alone again, just like when they first met in Clementine's house when all of this had began.

The duo made their way into the living room to pass the time until everyone had returned. The two sat together on one of the couches, keeping quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say.

Lee was the first to speak up after a moment of silence, and turned his attention over to his adoptive daughter. "So, anything happened since I was gone?"

"Nothing much." Clementine admitted, shrugging her shoulders upon mid-sentence. "What happened exactly, Lee?"

"Me, Pete, and Nick stumbled upon these dead corpses when we got to the stream. I was standing in the middle, and Pete and Nick were standing on both sides." Lee explained, keep his eyes focused into nowhere like he was drifting off into his own world. "Walkers appeared, and Pete got bit. Both of them were in trouble, and I only got chance to help one...I don't know why...But I helped Pete even know I knew he was bit."

"You think...He made it?" Clementine inquired.

"Not sure. He looked pale when I last saw him, and he could just about move." Lee answered, but decided to stop talking as he did not want her knowing anymore to what happened. For now, he decided to give her a little job to keep her distracted. "Hey, why don't you keep Sarah company?"

Clementine knew one-hundred percent fact that Lee still tried to keep her mind off the outside world. She did wish he would stop treating her like the little girl she once was, but nevertheless, she obeyed his wishes and stood up from the couch and made her way upstairs to Sarah's room.

She arrived to Sarah's bedroom, and without knocking, she opened the door, and was startled by a sudden bright flash light, followed by an enthusiastic greeting. "Say, "Cheese"!"

Clementine jumped a little after being startled by her new so-called best friend. She merely watched as Sarah printed out the photo from the camera she had used to take a picture of Clementine. "Look at all this cool stuff I found under the house. Cool, right?"

Clementine did not reply as she eyed the picture in Sarah's hand, but had to admit it looked kid since she did not remember the last time of seeing a photograph of herself.

"Take one of me!" Sarah requested, offering the camera over to Clementine, who hesitated for a moment, thinking this was somewhat childish of her. "Please?"

Clementine continued to hesitate about if she wanted to take her picture or not, but eventually agreed to her friendly request. "Sure."

"Get me on a good pose, okay?" Sarah requested, standing still to allow Clementine to take a picture of her. However, just as Clementine had taken the picture, she noticed a worried expression on her face. "What's wrong, Clem? Where's my dad?"

Clementine was not sure how she was going to reply exactly, not wanting to lie to her, but at the same time, not wanting to break her promise to Carlos. Instead, she just said the first thing that popped in her mind. "He'll be fine. You're safe here with me and Lee."

"Are you sure?" Sarah inquired, but did not get an answer for her new friend, who merely stood there. She decided to drop it for now and walked to the other side of her bedroom, and sat down. As she sat down, she felt herself struggling to breathe for a moment. "Sorry...I just need...To."

Clementine watched as Sarah had to take a couple of breathes for a moment with her arms around her legs, not knowing what was wrong with her exactly. She sat down on the opposite side of her to keep her company until the others, and hopefully, she would not ask any questions regarding her father.

The two sat silent for a moment, staring at each other as they smiled. Clementine had to admit she did like being in the company of another girl, and Sarah liked having a new friend ever since all this had began. Sarah did consider Rebecca her friend, of course, but preferred someone her own age.

"Want to see what I found?" Sarah offered, braking the silence as she stood up for a moment to fetch something from under the table. "Will you show me how to use it?

Clementine's eyes widened silently as she eyed the Glock 17 in Sarah's hand. "You should let your dad teach you." she suggested, but her expression soon changed into a feared one as Sarah had aimed the gun at her. "Don't do that!"

"So...Sorry!...Sorry..." Sarah apologized, stuttering in mid-sentence. She calmed herself down shortly before making her way towards the window.

Sarah looked around the area outside of her bedroom window to see if there was anything useful outside that would help her target practice. "Maybe I could practice outside? There's that tree..."

"I don't think Lee or your dad would like that." Clementine warned, crossing her arms together while walking beside her.

"Yeah, I guess." Sarah admitted, gazing out of the window for a moment with a happy expression across her face when she spotted a silhouette figure that she already assumed was her friend. "Hey, Luke's back!"

Clementine looked over to where Sarah was pointing, but she was unable to see the figure before he disappeared. She turned around and followed Sarah downstairs to go and greet Luke. But something was on her mind that left her puzzled: if this was Luke, then why was he alone after Rebecca clearly claimed he was with Alvin.

After she made her way downstairs, Clementine checked a couple of windows to confirm if it was Luke, but found nothing so far. She walked over to Sarah, who was waiting near the front door, and by the look on her face, she looked worried.

Lee was there too, and the second he saw the two girls, he quickly ordered them to stay back after managing to catch a glimpse of the figure. "Girls, keep away from the windows!"

Sarah obeyed and stood still as her friend approached her after keeping away from all of the windows. She gulped after she realized the figure was not who he seemed to be. "Clem..."

Lee raised his Glock 17 out from his pocket, and poke his around the corner for a second where the figure was waiting by the front door, and he could deferentially confirm this was not one of the cabin members. The figure was either was going to just walk in, or maybe he would knock first like a civilized person.

Sarah was beginning to panic slightly as she somewhat recognized the figure standing by the door. "Lee, Clem, I think I know him."

The door knocked from the outside of the cabin, startling Lee and the two girls slightly. Whoever he was, obviously wanted to get inside. To Lee and Clementine, this was strange since they both expected it was just some random guy poking around, but as for Sarah, she knew one-hundred percent who this man was as soon as her eyes met him.

"He can't see me." Sarah replied, standing behind the wall to avoid being seen by the stranger outside. "Lee, you have to make him go away."

Lee arched a curious eyebrow for a moment to why Sarah was so desperate to get away and fearful from this stranger who she seemed to recognize, but he made a promise to Carlos that he would take care of her. "Sarah, go upstairs and find somewhere to hide, and don't come out until I say so, okay!?."

"Okay!" Sarah agreed, turning back around and quickly making her way back upstairs, but had to sneak to avoid being seen through the window.

"Hello...?!" the stranger called out from the outside, looking through the window on the front door.

"Clem, just follow my lead. I'll go us out of this, I promise." Lee assured her, raising up his Glock 17 up just in case things got out of hand.

Clementine nodded in agreement.

Lee slowly began making his way over towards the front door and looked towards the lock on the front door that may be his only hope of keeping the man outside. He slowly reached out his free hand to lock the door, but as luck would have it, he was a second too late as the door had opened. "Shit!"

He took a step back as he eyed the man who opened the door on his own and merely stood there, smiling at him. He had longish black hair, a black mustache like Carlos', and looked around in his middle forties, and he wore a brown coat with a row of fur against the hood.

He greeted Lee in a deep yet scratchy voice, seeming friendly towards him...For now, at least. "Hello there, sir."

* * *

**And here I bring you the next chapter, ladies and gentleman. I know some of this looks a lot familiar with my story "Clementine and a dog named Sam", but I could not find a way to write it differently. I apologize, but the story will still look different with Lee and Carley being apart of this story.**


	5. Chapter 5: moving up north

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 5: moving up north**

**Hey, everyone, here is the next chapter of my sequel "Fight for Survival". I took note of a couple of you thinking Kenny may not return in this story because he got on the boat with his family. Well, I will not give any spoilers because the answer you seek will be revealed in either the next chapter or the chapter after. Stay tuned to find out.**

* * *

Lee was unsure of what to say exactly as he stood only one-foot away from the stranger. He was uncertain if this man was just an ordinary guy, a thief like the Save-Lot Bandits, or even cannibals like the St. Johns. "Hello."

"How are ya?" the stranger inquired, seeming friendly at the moment as he looked towards the man and the young girl standing beside him.

"I'm fine, thanks." Lee answered. "How are you?"

"Well I'm doing just fine, thank you." the stranger replied smiling, shifting to his right slightly and gesturing his right arm back towards the way he came. "My family and I are set up a ways down river. I'm kinda surprised we haven't run into each other."

While he was talking Lee shifted his eyes towards his hip where he could see he was carrying Colt Python in a gun holster attached to his belt, and this left him worried slightly. Now he seemed dangerous with a weapon, but then again, what person did not own a gun these days? Especially in this day and age.

"So, what are your names?" the stranger inquired to the two. "You both related?"

Lee was about to answer, but revealing his name to him may not be a good idea. After all, you never know who you can trust these days. But then again, wasn't being honest a good thing? Lee needed to say something before it would look suspicious, and he spoke the first thing that popped into his mind. "I'm, uh, Kenny...And this is my daughter, uh, Lilly."

"Please to meet you, Kenny. And. That's a sweet name." the stranger admitted before he looked at her with a change of expression from a friendly one to a curious one. He stepped closer towards Lee who placed his hand out for him to stop. "You mind if I come in, Kenny? I've been out all morning and this heat has got me cooked."

"Look, we don't just let strangers into our home." Lee declined, preparing to hostile his Glock 17 that he kept in his hand, hidden behind the door. "Just tell us what you came here for. I don't want things to get ugly."

The stranger frowned for a moment, looking somewhat annoyed that he was now allowed inside. But to avoid suspicion, he raised a smile across his face again. "This is a nice place. Is there anyone else around except for you two? You don't usually see cabins this big out here. You sure could pack a lot of folks in here."

"Just me and my daughter." Lee answered, deep down, he prayed one of the cabin group members did not return.

"Really?" the stranger replied, dropping his smile again as he shrugged his shoulders. "Well, since I don't want me here, I'll cut to the chase; I'm out looking for my people. Seven of them to be exact. They're been gone a long while and...I'm worried they might've gotten lost. Maybe you've seen 'em."

"We don't see a lot of people nowadays." Lee admitted, turning towards Clementine for a moment for support in his lying story. "Isn't that right, Lilly?"

"Right...Dad." Clementine agreed, obviously not seeming to be very good when it came to lying since her parents always raised her to be honest.

"Well, just in case, I'll let you know what they look like. Couple of farm boys and an old man...Spanish guy and his daughter. Quiet girl, bit taller than Lilly. A big black guy. This big." he paused as he gestured out his arms a couple of feet in front of his stomach. "And a pretty little pregnant lady."

Clementine gasped silently under her breath as she knew full fact he was talking about everyone in the group. Lee too was surprised about that this man had just said, knowing everyone he described was all the members of the cabin group.

_"Couple of farm boys..."_

Luke and Nick.

_"An old man..."_

Pete.

_"Spanish guy and his daughter"_

Carlos and Sarah.

_"A big black guy..."_

Alvin.

_"A pretty little pregnant lady."_

Rebecca

"That's a lot of people to lose." Lee admitted, unsure of what to say exactly.

"Tell me about it." the stranger agreed. "This whole damn thing's a pain in the ass."

The two exchanged looks with one and other, both glaring with normal expressions. Lee and Clementine hoped he would go away soon, but as for the stranger, he looked like he could see past their lies.

"You have no idea who these people are, do you?" the stranger asked, raising a grin across his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lee lied, frowning slightly as he prepared to close the door on this man.

"Okay then. Answer me this though: If people don't trust you, how can you trust them?" the stranger asked, knowing what the other group was like before they had been separated for certain reasons. "Well, I think I've troubled you long enough. I'll be on my way now."

Lee watched as the stranger turned around and made his way into the woods. He called out to him as he walked into the distance. "Hey! Who the fuck are you!?"

"You have a real good day, now, sir." he replied, completely ignoring his question as he wondered out from the cabin.

Lee and Clementine merely watched as the stranger was no longer in their sights. Lee closed the door after a moment or so, and locked the door behind him just in case. The duo sat down on one of the couches together, puzzled to whom that stranger was and what he was doing here, and how did he know the cabin group.

For now, all they could do was wait until the others returned, and once they did, make a plan of what to do next. There was a chance that he may return, and if so, it was important that they inform the group the second the returned.

* * *

Not too long after the stranger had left the cabin, Lee, Clementine, and Sarah were all in the living room together. The trio sat on a couch together, keeping silently as they were unsure of what to say exactly. After all, he obviously knew who they were, and Sarah seemed to be extremely fearful of him.

"We need to find the others." Lee declared, finally speaking after they had been sitting in silent for a while.

"We can't go outside!" Sarah declined, remembering how protective her father was of her, and going outside without his permission would make him extremely angry.

Lee made his way into the kitchen with Clementine and Sarah following suite. At almost perfect timing, the back door had opened from the outside, revealing it to be Luke with the others following behind him. And as luck would have it, Nick was among them, and everyone seems to be accounted for...All except for Pete that is.

"Lee!" Luke greeted, now feeling relived that he was okay.

"Sarah!" Carlos greeted as Sarah ran towards him with her arms open. He embraced her in a hug as she ran towards him, and after what just happened with the stranger, she was afraid and needed her father.

Lee watched as the group made their way inside and a smile rose across his face when seeing Carley. He hugged her when she was within his range, happy that no-one else had been hurt, especially the girl he loves. "Hey, Carley. Glad you're alright."

"No-one messes with this reporter." Carley smirked, handing the sniper rifle back over towards Lee to which he accepted. She leaned up as much as she could, and pecked the side of his face.

"You found Nick?" Clementine inquired, looking up towards the older man.

"Yeah, we found him hiding in a shelter. We all made it back." Luke assured her, smiling across his face as he was relieved that everyone was here and accounted for. He shifted his attention back over towards Lee, knowing there was still one more member unaccounted for. "You know where Pete is, right Lee? We need to find him."

"Yeah, I remember." Lee assured, suspecting that the group was unaware of what happened once someone was bit.

When everyone was inside the kitchen, Sarah moved out from her father's hug as she placed her hands together with her head lowered innocently. "A man was here."

"What?" Carlos inquired, already fearful of what she just said out of nowhere.

"What did she say?" Rebecca inquired.

"Someone came to the cabin." Sarah repeated, afraid to look at her father in the eye, fearing she was going to see his angry expression, even despite the fact she did not do nothing wrong. "Lee talked to him."

"And you just opened the door for him?" Rebecca asked, surprised to how stupid Lee was for letting in a complete stranger (or someone she may know) into their home.

"Calm down, Rebecca." Luke soothed her, knowing how easily angry and upset she can be, especially with her hormones being all out of control.

"Calm down?! I am calm! You calm down!" Rebecca ordered, raising her voice slightly in an angered one.

"I didn't open the door!" Lee countered, knowing that the older woman had a grudge against him, Carley, and Clementine for some unknown reason. "He just came in."

"He's telling the truth!" Sarah reassured everyone, defending Lee even though she did not see what happened due to her hiding the entire time.

Carlos changed his expression to a worried one as he eyed Lee, suspecting whoever visited them was someone they once knew. "Did he say his name? Did he say what his name was?"

"Maybe it wasn't him." Rebecca suggested, turning towards her husband for support.

"You know damn well who it was." Alvin replied, his voice showing some anger as he too suspected it could be the same person who they once knew.

Rebecca shifted her attention back towards Lee, gazing upon him as she folded her arms together, and repeated the same question as Carlos. "Did he say his name?"

"Why do you care so much?" Clementine inquired, only just realizing how Rebecca seemed more worried about the man that came to the cabin than to the others.

"Excuse me?" Rebecca replied, shocked of what the young girl just said to her.

"He didn't say his name!" Lee replied, trying to keep calm under the pressure he was in.

"Look, Lee, just...Tell us what he look like." Carlos requested, asking multiple questions for him to answer so he could make certain it was the same person as before. "What was he wearing? Did he sound...Different? He old was he?"

"He had a moustache, a bushy one; he had a deep voice, a little scratchy, and a big brown coat with a lining of fur." Lee described him the best he could remember.

"He talked about you and others." Clementine added, remembering the entire conversation she and Lee had with the stranger.

"You're not going to hurt anyone, are you?" Sarah asked her father, not wanting the situation to get anymore worse than it needed to be.

"Of course he won't, Sarah, alright?" Luke assured her, knowing how Sarah had a couple of problems that made her worried about certain things. "Your dad's the nicest man I know, which is why he's not going to do anything crazy or...not nice. Right?"

"You know these are bad people, sweetie. They will do or say anything to hurt us." Carlos soothed, comforting his daughter as he placed his left hand upon her shoulder.

"All right, what do you think?" Luke asked Lee, wanting to be certain they were going to be safe. "Did it seem like he'd be coming back?"

"I think so." Lee admitted, wishing he did make the situation any more badly than it had to be. "He described how he was looking for seven of you, and even gave detail on what you look like. He even asked me if I trusted you or not. I think he knows you all live here.

The cabin members looked towards one and other as they were not sure on what to do next.

Carlos sighed in response as he dazed out from his thoughts while showing some gratitude towards Lee and Clementine for making the stranger leave. "We got lucky. He wasn't expecting to find us. Lee and Clementine must have surprised him. If they hadn't been there...Well, he was too smart to stick around. But he'll be back with the rest. We don't have much time."

"He's right." Luke agreed, folding his arms together as he turned towards the others. "Everyone pack up. We're moving out."

Rebecca called out to her husband as he had already marched out from the kitchen, obviously eager to get moving as soon as possible. "Alvin, wait!"

Most of them left the kitchen, leaving only Lee, Clementine, Carley, Luke, Carlos and Sarah remaining.

Carlos knelt down to his daughter's height, trying to comfort her as he knew he would have to take her outside into this tragic world. It was something he did not want to do, but he had no choice. "We have to leave now sweetie, before he comes back with more bad guys. But's it's going to be okay. Let's just go get your things."

"What's the big deal? Who was he?" Lee inquired, now knowing the full truth to why this stranger had appeared to this cabin looking for them.

Carlos sighed as he walked closer to Lee, trying to explain the situation to him. "Lee, I don't know what he told you, but William Carver is a dangerous man. He is the leader of a camp not far from here, and he is very smart. We were...Lucky to escape. Look, I'm sorry to involve you, Clementine, and Carley, but now that he's seen you, you will all be safe with us. We have to leave."

Lee nodded as he led Carley and Clementine back into the living room to get their things, even though they did not have much apart from their two guns and a small backpack Clementine was carrying. But before long, everyone got their things together, and it was time to go before Carver would return with back-up.

Luke declared it was time to go as soon as everyone was here and accounted for. But nevertheless, they still had to look for Pete along the way. "Alright. Everybody grab your stuff. Let's hit the road."

* * *

The following the morning, the cabin survivors with Lee, Clementine, and Carley had gathered their things together and were now making their way up north, wanting to get as far away as possible before Carver would hunt them down, and this time, with company. They were quite low on supplies and on ammo, but they had to make it last for as long as possible. But they did need to make a quick stop first, and that was to find Pete.

While they were walking, Lee, who was walking almost ahead of the group with Clementine beside her, turned her attention around when she saw Rebecca had caught up to him. He sure hoped Rebecca wasn't going to criticize him about Carver because he sure was not in the mood.

"Hey, Lee. Sorry if I have you some shit back there." Rebecca apologized, finally showing a friendly face to the older man for the first time since he arrived. "I'm just a little on edge. It's just tough time right now with the pregnancy and all. You and Alvin and probably relate."

"It's okay." Lee assured her. "I know the feeling."

"If it's not you I'm yelling' at lately, it's Alvin, and then I'm in real trouble." Rebecca explained, showing a smile across her face for the first time.

"We can handle it." Lee reassured, turning her head to the side so they made eye-contact.

"I felt the same way when I was around Clementine's age." Rebecca agreed, remembering what it was like to be young before the dead had and took over. "My dad was always giving me shit, and I always thought he didn't know a damn thing..."

She trailed off as she showed some gratitude for Lee's and Clementine's help earlier. "I know you did your best back there. You know, none of us would make it on our own. Sometimes it's hard knowing just how dependent I am one everyone. I'm not used to that. I'm not comfortable with that. I'm supposed to be a mom soon. Guess I need to work on my patience. Alvin and I still don't know what to call her. Or him, if that man gets his wish god help me. Any ideas...Lee?"

The group halted when Lee had wondered off on his own. They followed suite, none of them bothering to ask where he was going. Lee moved into an open area in the middle of the woods, and immediately remembered what this place was. He could see the cigarette truck where he and Pete were hiding in, and hopefully, he is still inside in one peace.

"There." Lee declared, pointing his finger towards the truck. "There's where me and Pete were."

Everyone else stood still for a moment. Except for Nick that is, who rushed over to the cigarette truck, desperate to find his uncle. Carley decided to follow him just in case of anymore surprises.

Nick opened up the back doors of the truck, and a worried expression rose across his face. "He's not in here!"

"This was the last place I saw him." Lee assured. "He was too weak to move. He couldn't have gone far."

"Maybe he's around here somewhere." Alvin suggested, shrugging his shoulders during mid-sentence.

"Keep your eyes open." Carlos ordered, carefully scanning the area for any lurkers that may be roaming around, looking for a fresh meal. "And stay in sight."

Everyone spread out across the entire area, calling out his name in an attempt to find him. All except for Lee that is, whom had wondered to the side of the truck with Clementine beside him where he noticed a blood trail smeared a cross the ground. He began to follow the trail without informing anyone, not wanting to cause any panic.

"Uncle Pete!" Nick called out, a hint of panic in his voice. "Pete!"

Lee continued to follow the trail of blood until it led him behind a rock. He noticed a dead walker lying motionlessly against the ground. He looked towards the next corpse lying beside it, and saw him next left him too shocked to even move. Instead, he closed his eyes as the others approached him from behind to investigate what he had found.

"Oh my god." Nick gasped, his eyes widened as the sight of his uncle lying motionlessly on the ground with a bullet shot in his brain, his body had been devoured, and blood was smeared all around him. "What happened? What the hell happened?"

"He's been shot." Carlos declared, closing his eyes for a moment to mourn the loss of his friend.

"Who did he shoot himself?" Lee wondered, remembering when Pete tossed his gun aside as soon as they made their escape into the woods. "He didn't have a gun. Who could have done this?"

Nick was too saddened to look at his uncle like this and turned towards Luke, who comforted his brotherly friend with a hug, calmly assuring him everything was going to be okay.

"Son of a bitch." Alvin sighed.

"We need to go." Carlos declared, not wanting to stick around any longer due to walkers and the fact Carver might still be tracking them.

Everyone nodded and made their way back over to the same path, all except for Nick that is, who still needed a moment to move. Luke moved behind him, knowing they needed to gone. "He's gone. Nick he's-he's gone. We got to get moving. Come on, man."

Nick tried his best to hold back his tears as Luke escorted him back towards the path with the others. He now lost the only member of his family left, knowing he was all alone now. First his mother, and now his uncle Pete, who may have been a little harsh on him in the past, but acted more of a fatherly-figure to him than his real father ever did.

While continuing the rest of their journey up north, everyone was silent for a few moments, still in shock and sadness to what happened to Pete.

Nick was the first one to speak up to Lee, needing to know who this happened. He picked up the pace a little to keep at the same speed level with Lee. "Lee, tell me. Tell me how it happened."

"He got bit at the river." Lee admitted. "He helped save me though. If he hadn't of showed me the way back, I might have not made it back."

Nick did not respond and a sad expression rose across his face again. He found himself slowing down, too sad to move further. He lowered his head to the ground, now standing behind everyone else.

"I'm worried about that kid. Keep an eye on him for me, would you?" Luke requested to Lee, knowing Nick was going to lose hope of even living if he felt like he had no-one left in this world.

"I will." Lee assured. "Pere wanted me to take care of Nick, and I promised him I would."

The two continued talking for a moment while Carlos and Sarah were leading everyone else the way they were going. Luke was just behind them, and everyone else was behind Lee.

"You sure you, Carley, and Clem still wanna come with us?" Luke inquired, wanting to make sure they were comfortable going with them to...Well, wherever they were going. "I mean, we have got off on a good start, and you did save Pete's life before he...You know." he kept quiet to Nick did not hear him, despite the fact he was nowhere near them.

"Well, we ain't got much choice." Lee admitted, unsure of where they were going to go next. "We were heading up north."

"So are we." Luke smiled, assuring him that staying with them for now was going to be their best option. "Look, you're going to have a better chance of getting to wherever you're going with us than your own."

Luke paused for a moment and pulled out a map that he had with him to check where they were going and how far it was going to be before they reached their destination. "I figure we got about four or five days to reach those mountains. Now, if they're tracking us, we should be able to lose them up there."

"Five days?" Rebecca repeated, worried that she might not be able to make it up there in time due to her pregnancy, and being close to giving birth.

"It's going to be okay, Bec." Alvin assured her, knowing how paranoid his wife would be nowadays due to her pregnancy.

"We have to keep moving now." Carlos spoke up, joining in on the conversation after he had been silent with his daughter for a while. "It's our only choice."

* * *

_Five days later_

Five days had passed since the cabin group had left their home in fear of Carver returning to get them, and they did not take any breaks at all other than to sleep and rest for around five-minutes each time. It was too tough for them, but eventually, they made it to a nearby river and decided to rest for a few minutes until it was safe to keep moving.

Lee and Clementine was on duty for checking the area since they had more experience with the outside world rather than the inside. Clementine was lying down against a rock on her stomach while looking through a pair of binoculars she had. Lee looked through the scope of his rifle while he stood up, checking the area carefully.

"See anything?" Luke inquired, but did not get an answer from the two straight away.

"They better see something." Alvin hoped, concerned for his wife now she was beginning to look quite tired due her growing physical weakness from carrying her baby, plus the none-stop walking for almost a week. "We've been walking for a damn week."

"We need to find shelter." Carlos replied, him too concerned for his daughter as the weather was beginning to get quite cold.

Clementine moved her binoculars towards the right to see some-sort of life that looked like it would carry people to the top of that mountain on the other side of the river. "There's a lift or something."

"Chair lift?" Luke asked, looking towards his map to check if they were in the right area. "Must be that ski resort."

Clementine took her binoculars from over eyes for a moment as she thought back to before all this began. She wanted to get skiing, but her parents always promised her that they could go when she grew up. It was like a dream of hers. "I've never been skiing."

"Bec and I went once." Alvin replied, shifting himself towards his wife, who was sitting down on a nearby boulder to rest.

"It wasn't pretty." Rebecca admitted, recalling a little accident of theirs that happened when they went skiing."

"I went once too with my sister." Carley joined in on the conversation while she was on watch duty with her Glock 17. "Twisted my ankle for a couple of weeks."

"Did it hurt?" Alvin inquired, crossing his arms together.

"Could have been worse." Carley replied, remembering the good times she always use to have before the apocalypse began.

"Here, eat this, Bec." Alvin said, handing his wife his last bit of food for her to keep up her strength.

"Alvin, I'm fine." Rebecca reassured him, not wanting to make the others feel bad for taking most of the food.

Lee continued to look through the scope of his rifle until he looked a couple of feet up from the chair lift to see a big-looking house near a windmill. It looked like a good place to stay for the night, that's if someone else did not beat them to it of course. "There's a building on the mountain."

"What does it look like?" Luke asked Lee, him being the only one that heard her.

"It's big." Lee shrugged, unsure what to describe exactly since it was quite far away despite the fact he had a better view. "Might be a ski lodge."

Luke turned around to face Alvin and Rebecca for a moment, and they were unsure what to do or not. He faced Lee again, and he had to admit a big house is what they need right now. "That sounds like a good place to spend the night."

Lee and Clementine saw enough of the area where they big house was and decided to look somewhere else. The duo moved their binoculars and rifle over to the far left where the bridge that was going to take them on the other side was, and at the end of it, was a small station house.

"There's a little house by the bridge." Lee declared, unable to tell if there was any residence or not.

"How big is it?" Carlos inquired.

"It's pretty small." Clementine admitted, turning even more to the left to investigate the bridge nearby. "There's the bridge, Lee."

"And does it look passable?" Luke inquired, suspecting the bridge may be their only way across, and knowing it would take too long going all the way around.

"Looks like it." Lee answered, seeing the bridge looked deserted for now and did not look damaged that much.

"Good." Luke smiled, folding his map away and placing it back into his pocket while Clementine moved from her spying position.

"We have to cross that bridge." Carlos said, eager to get moving as he still suspected Carver was tracking them, and the more they stuck around, they worse. "Let's go."

"Hold on, now." Luke declined, not wanting to rush into things so quickly. "We can't all spring across that thing, okay? If we get spotted out there, we're going to be trapped."

"Going around that lake will take too long." Carlos clashed, pointing two of his fingers towards Luke for a moment from his right hand.

"Right, but..." Luke tried to explain his plan to the doctor as he placed his left hand in his pocket. "Look, we've got no idea who's out there. Okay, I'm going to sneak across and make sure it's clear before we bring the whole group over."

"You think splitting up the group is a good idea?" Carlos inquired, somewhat disagreeing with his plan to go out there on his own.

Lee merely stood next to him with a slight smile on his face and his arms at his sides. Obviously, he seemed to agree with his plan by the look on his face.

"I never said it was a GOOD idea." Luke replied, smiling across his face. "But it's better than risking everyone at once."

"What's your plan?" Alvin inquired, seeming to agree with his plan of his.

Luke began to explain his plan to the others, keeping it was short as possible and in simple terms so they did not waste any more time. "Lee and I can scoot across low and slow and make sure nobody's waiting for us on the other side."

"We'll have a tough time covering you from back here." Alvin reminded, hoping it would not change their minds.

"Well, we'll just turn back if it gets hairy." Luke replied, looking towards Lee for support. "It's going to be fine. Okay? We'll signal you guys in ten minutes. Just watch for a light at the far side."

"I don't like this." Carlos said, still disagreeing with this plan of is.

"Yeah, well, when's the last time you liked anything, Carlos?" Luke asked as he turned around and began making his way down the path that would lead him and Lee to the bridge.

Before following Luke, Lee turned towards his girlfriend for a moment and pecked her cheek, assuring him that he would be back soon. "I won't be gone long, Carley. Just keep an eye on Clementine for me."

"I will." Carley assured, followed by a supportive nod.

Lee and Luke marched towards the path that would take them to the end of the bridge. Hopefully they could get there and back in one peace, without running into Carver's men if he was following them, or worse, walkers.

"I can go with you." Nick offered, wanting to make himself useful. He stood up from where he was sitting with his rifle clutched in his grip.

Luke did not wish to accept his offer due to the fact he still looked too unstable at the moment from his uncle's death. "Its fine, Nick. We're good."

Nick merely watched as the two men made their way down towards the path towards the bridge. He spoke to them nevertheless, assuring them he was still useful. "If something happens, I'll cover you."

Luke did not accept his offer and merely beckoned for Lee to come with him. "Come on. Let's try and make this quick."

* * *

**Chapter 5 written and published. As you can see, Carver did not enter the cabin in this story, but he was still smart enough to figure out they were residing here. And sadly, Pete has passed on in this story with no possible way to save him. May he rest in peace...Stay tuned for the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6: continuing the journey

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 6: continuing the journey**

**Here I bring you the next chapter, ladies and gentleman. And I might be a little slow updating again because I go back to College now. But I will see what I can do with my free time. I don't work everyday. Hope this chapter is to your enjoyment.**

* * *

Shortly after leaving the rest of the group to investigate the bridge, the duo Lee and Luke talked with one and other while they were walking through the woods.

While they were walking, Luke started up a conversation between them both. "Hey, uh, sorry to drag you with me. I just could really use your eyes, and right now I don't really trust Nick or anyone at the moment to help me with this. They're just still on edge after Carver thing."

"It's been five days." Lee reminded him, puzzled to why Carver and his men would be following them for so long. "Why the hell would Carver still be following us?"

Luke took a moment to answer his question. He knew something that the others didn't, and as much as he should not really speak about it, he trusted Lee to keep it a secret...Or so he hoped so at least. "What's the most important thing in this world? What does everyone want? Even the gangs. What do you think? They're all after?"

Lee thought about this question of his: The most important thing in the world? What could it be? Shelter? Friends? People? Food? What could the answer be?

Finally, Lee realized there was one option left she could think of, and unfortunately, it was not the answer he hoped for. "Family, right?"

"It's a tough world out there with people you can trust." Luke replied, looking somewhat fearful of what he just told Lee. "Anyways, you can ask Rebecca, okay? I'm not going to get in the middle of it. We've all made mistakes. Done things that we regret. It's not my place to talk about someone else's past, you know?"

Lee was shocked by this, now knowing the truth to why Carver was after them. The baby Rebecca was carrying was his, or so it seemed so at least. Alvin did not seem to know, and if he was, it may devastate him. "I hate to break it to ya, Luke, but it seems like we're already in the middle of it."

"Tell me about it." Luke agreed, knowing just what he meant by that.

The two continued walking for a few more seconds until they finally saw the bridge in their sights. However, they both froze in their steps when the sight of two walkers were standing by the bridge caused them to stop.

One walker was merely standing there, gazing off into the bridge. As for the second walker, it was sitting down against a boulder, unable to move by the looks of it.

"Hmmm." Luke hummed, trying to figure out what to do next, and how to get passed them silently. "We can't shoot them. Too much noise. But they're only two."

"Let's take them." Lee replied, clutching his rifle tightly to prepare for attack.

"I like your style." Luke admitted with a grin across his face. He and Lee slowly made their way to a nearby boulder and crouched down behind it for cover. "I'll take the big one. You get shorty. Wish we could use guns. We should be okay. I think."

"Luke, in all fairness, I'm stronger. I'll take the big one." Lee replied, looking towards the smaller walker resting against another boulder.

"If you insist." Luke sighed, preparing to sneak up on them quietly. "Let's do it."

The two pulled out their melee weapons that were a machete for Luke, and the butt of Lee's rifle. They slowly sneaked up to their targets, being as silent as a mouse until they were in range, and then, in the quick of a flash, they both simultaneously hit the walkers.

Luke easily decapitated the small walker, and Lee was able to knock the walker down with his rifle. It collapsed to the ground, still undead for a moment but it was short-lived when Lee stomped his foot down on its skull, finally putting it out of its misery.

Luke smiled as he rose up his left hand and patted him on the back. "Nice work, Lee."

"Thanks." he thanked, flipping his rifle back up to the right side.

Lee raised a grin on his face before they both knew it was time to go, and turned around and began to make their way down the bridge.

Lee and Luke carefully made their way down the bridge, sticking to the left on the metal path when noticing the wooden tracks looked a little unstable, and sticking to the path was a safe idea. As they got around halfway down the bridge, they saw some-sort of handcar on the track, and by it was two walkers.

One of the walkers stood up, but the other one began crawling, and both of them snarled and growled as they made their way towards the duo, obviously eager from a bite to eat. As Luke tried to plan what they were going to do, Lee turned around and saw yet another walker coming towards them. They were trapped.

"Shit." Luke swore, looking back and forth at the three walkers before he pulled out his machete from his holster, preparing to defend himself. He began moving towards the walker who was coming at them from behind, thinking if he killed that one first, than at least they could run away.

"Sure we can't use guns now?" Lee inquired, following the younger man back the way they came. He looked back towards the two walkers, and the one that was crawling was now walking instead, and this made him twice as dangerous.

"Can't risk the noise." Luke warned as moved towards the single walker. He suddenly felt gravity had pulled him down more than it should, and he collapsed through the wooden tracks. The walker who he was going to kill ended up falling down with him.

"Luke!" Lee panicked as he ran towards the way they came. He quickly jumped down flat on his stomach, and sighed in relief when seeing Luke had not fallen into the river.

The walker had fallen onto a flat support beam under the bridge with part of a broken sharp pole impaled through his shoulder, but as for Luke, he placed his arms around a round metal girder behind him, and placed his legs around another round metal girder in front of him to keep himself up. "Lee! I'm okay, I just...I'm stuck!"

Lee had to help him when he could see the walker was trying to grab him, and at any moment, he might break free and be able to grab him. He reached out his hand to grab him, but he would have to quick before the other two walkers caught up. "Luke, grab my hand!"

Luke attempted to grab onto his hand but at the same time, trying to keep his feet away from the walker and keep himself up. He almost grabbed his hand, but he looked up to see the other two walkers were moving in on him. "Behind you!"

"Oh, fuck..." Lee swore, quickly jumping up with his rifle raised as the closest walker moving in him. He whacked him the walker directly in his head, but it did not kill it. He repeated the same tactic, but this time, got himself into a situation when the walker grabbed onto the same rifle.

Lee groaned angrily as he attempted to kick the walker back, and he knew he would have to do it quick before the other walker got close enough to attack. Kicking him one more time, Lee had no choice but to let go of his gun to survive. The walker tripped over the railing and plummeted towards the river, taking Lee's weapon with him.

Lee quickly shifted his attention back towards the second walker that stood only a couple of feet away. He scanned the area for anything he could use as a weapon. He noticed Luke's machete nearby, and that may be his only hope of surviving right now.

Quickly as a flash, Lee threw himself towards the machete and picked it up in his hands, gripping in tightly. In one quick slash, Lee sliced the walker directly through its head, cutting half of its head off.

He took a couple of breaths before the sounds of panic erupted through the air, coming from where Luke had fallen. Now that the bridge was clear again, he ran back towards the broken tracks and jumped down onto his stomach to finally assist Luke.

He picked up a pipe nearby and whacked the pipe against the injured walkers a couple of times, being careful not to drop it of course. Lee whacked him again, finally finishing him off before he handed the pipe to Luke after he requested it, not sure what use it was going to be now.

Luke was beginning to lose his grip. He placed it across the two sections of the girders and used it as a foothold so he can stand, and was able to grab onto the railroad structure before it slipped out from his foot. "Ummmph."

Lee grabbed onto his hand, and finally pulled him up to safety. Lee ducked down slightly, taking a few breaths after he just escaped from the near death experience while Lee merely stood there, expecting a thank you soon.

He recovered after a moment and thanked the older man for his assistance, realizing he could have died just then if it weren't for Lee. "Thanks Lee."

Lee smiled in response as he handed Luke his machete back to which he accepted.

"Let's keep going." Luke ordered, placing his machete back into his holster.

The duo moved past the handcar, and continued their journey over to the other side of the bridge. However, as they were walking, Luke had spotted something in the distance, and placed his right arm out slightly to keep Lee from moving past him.

The two watched for a moment when they could see someone moving towards them, and it was certainly no walker, and by the looks of it, he was armed. The two could only hope he was merely a survivor just like them, and no bandit, no cannibal, or even worse, not one of Carver's men.

"You see him?" Luke inquired; merely watching as the figure up ahead was making their way towards them.

"Yeah." Lee replied, unsure what to do at this very moment now that he was unarmed. "I lost my gun. What we going to do if things get rough."

"Just play it cool." Luke instructed, showing no emotion on his face as he dared not take his eyes off of the stranger. "And you do the talking."

"What?! Why me?" Lee asked, not sure if he was going to be able to handle this on his own.

"Because I don't want to get in a fight." Luke explained, turning his attention towards Le for a moment. "You're older, and you seem smarter. Clem told me you use to be a teacher, right? Just don't make any sudden moves. And don't piss him off. And don't tell him anything." he paused for a second, unsure if Lee was going to remember all this. "You know, on second thought, maybe I should do the talking."

"What should I say?" Lee inquired, beginning to speak in a deeper voice than usual. ""Hey pal, how you doing in this zombie world?"

"I don't know. Ask him for directions." Luke suggested, watching as the man was not too far away now, but the good thing was he stopped moving, and froze in his steps in the center of the bridge.

The man finally spoke something to them; raising his voice so they could hear him from the distance he was standing in. "Well, who are you?"

"Well, who's asking?" Lee replied, somewhat asking him the same question.

"I am." the man replied, not answering his question.

"Wanna help me out here?" Lee requested, already running out of things to say to the stranger.

Luke spoken up after keeping silent during their little conversation. He asked the first question that popped into his mind. "What do you want?"

"Saw you coming and I thought I'd meet you halfway." the man replied answered, not seeming to realize Luke had his right hand to his pistol holster, preparing to pull out his Glock 17 just in case things got out of hand.

Everyone stood quiet for a moment, all three of them unsure what to say. Lee merely stood there with his arms folded, Luke still prepared to pull out his Glock 17, and as for the stranger, he still stood where he was in the center of the bridge.

A few seconds later, the man continued marching towards them, finally getting close enough in their sights to reveal he was carrying an M14 rifle, a similar weapon to the rifle Lee had moments ago, and the Winchester Model 70 some of the cabin survivors owned.

The man stopped in his steps yet again, seeming neutral at the moment since he did hot have his weapon aimed at them. "Huh. You don't look like assholes. Are you assholes? No offence or anything. But you know how it is out here. You run into a lot of assholes."

"We're just people." Lee assured, hoping that would be enough to keep the man from shooting them.

"Fair enough." the man agreed as he continued walking towards them, finally realizing that these two strangers were not bad and seemed friendly for now. He walked closer to them, now standing only a few feet away from them.

Lee and Luke could now see the man in clear view. He looked like an Asian-American, he looked around in his late twenties, and he had a small black moustache and wore a grey and black jacket with his hood over his head, and wore dark brownish cargo pants.

The man seemed friendly...For now, at least. He now seems to trust them enough to approach them without his weapon aiming at them, and spoke in a friendly tone. "You folks headed north like everyone else?"

""Everyone else?"" Luke queried, wondering what he meant by "everyone else". He suspected that he and Lee was not the only people who have come across this bridge in the past.

"I see at least one group a day move through here." the man replied, keeping his weapon holstered from them. "You all look the same. It's like a great migration of the dazed and confused."

"Do you know Carver?" Lee inquired, unfolding his arms and placing them back to his sides.

"Carver?" the man repeated, raising a curious face with an eyebrow arched. "Like George Washington Carver? The peanut guy?"

"What?" Lee queried, puzzled to what he just said out of randomness. "He's a man."

"Never heard of him. But now I want some peanut butter, though." the man admitted, raising a grin across his face for a moment. He examined the two strangers, noticing the blood and dirt smeared across different parts of their bodies. "I got to say, you two look like shit. If you need food, I've got some canned food in that station back there."

"Well, that's, uh, awful nice of you." Luke admitted, placing his hands to his hips, but suspecting the man was going to want something in return. "What's the catch?"

"No catch. I've got plenty." the man reassured them, making himself looking even friendlier to the two.

"Well alright then, then. Thank you." Luke thanked, smiling across his face as he was glad not everyone in this world was bad, and there was still some good people out there.

"Hey, no problem. Nice running into friendly face out here." the man replied, feeling the same ways as Lee and Luke: meeting someone friendly for once in this day and age, rather than sickos and thieves. "Like I said, I've got food and supplies back in the station. And if you want..."

Lee and Luke were puzzled to why he just stopped for a moment like he saw a ghost. Neither of them got the chance to speak when the man spoke first in a panicked an annoyed voice.

The man's expression changed from a friendly one into a shocked one when he spotted something on the other side of the bridge come running towards him. "What the fuck, man?"

Lee and Luke turned around to see what the trouble was that got the man all worked-up. They duo both were shocked to see Nick running straight towards them with his rifle in his hand.

"What the hell is he doing?" Luke wondered, annoyed and confused since he clearly made it to the entire cabin group not to cross the bridge until they lit the fire on the other side.

Nick had a worried in expression on his face. By the looks of it his point of view, he must have mistaken the man to be an enemy working for Carver. He aimed his rifle towards him, preparing to open fire.

Lee and Luke watched in shock as the man holstered his M14 up towards Nick, mistaking him for an enemy, too. One of them was going to shoot soon unless someone did something, and fast.

"No, no, no, no! He's wi-he's with us!" Luke quickly assured him, raising his hands in the air to prove they were not enemies, and that Nick was just mistaken. He swiftly spun around and waved his hands in the air, trying to signal for him to stop. "Nick! No!"

The man did not fully believe them for a moment and continued aiming towards Nick, preparing to pull the trigger on this man. "Put it down!" he ordered.

Lee watched in panic and shock as both men aimed their weapons towards each other, and he knew one-hundred percent fact that one of them was going to fire soon and there would be blood spilt. He quickly turned towards the stranger again, trying to assure him they were not enemies. "DON'T SHOOT-"

Lee was cut off when a shot was fired, and in the quick of an eye, he and Luke jumped down across the ground in an attempt to get out of the line of fire. The shot caused everything to go silent, the only thing they could hear were Lee leaned back up when hearing gargling and groaning noise coming from the direction they were heading. He was shocked to see the man had been shot directly in the side of his neck, blood spitting out from it as he held his left hand against out in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

The man tumbled back towards the edge of the bridge and aimed his gun up in an attempt to shoot Nick, but he tripped over the bridge as Lee and Luke ran towards him. The two watched his lifeless body hit the water below, and upon impact, he caused a splash. Either he was going to die from blood loss, the impact of the fall, or drowning. There was nothing they could do to save him.

Lee and Luke turned their attention back towards Nick and angrily marched towards him, and by the looks of Luke's face, it looked like he wanted to hit him for his actions.

"Did I hit him?" Nick inquired, scanning the bridge where he did not notice the man anywhere. "Where is he?!"

"I told you not to shoot." Luke reminded, showing an angered expression towards him.

"What? Who was that guy?" Nick inquired, a shocked face rose across his face.

"Why didn't you wait for a signal?" Nick inquired, raising his voice slightly.

"Nick, you're a fucking idiot!" Lee judged him, pointing towards him for a moment. "He was going to help us, man..."

"How do you know?" Nick clashed, not seeming to believe what the older man had just spoken to him.

Lee kept quiet for now as he folded his arms together. He merely watched the end of the bridge where the rest of the group was making their way down. The two friends argued with one and other about the victim Nick had just shot without hesitation.

"Dammit, Nick I told you not to shoot."

"How was I supposed to hear you? You have me a clear shot."

"That shot rang out for miles. We got to get off this bridge. Let's go."

For now, the trio ended the argument between them until they were safely off the bridge. Lee and Luke continued their way over towards the end of the bridge, wanting to get a move on as soon as possible before it was night time, and by the looks of it, a storm was on its way.

* * *

The second the group made it across the bridge, each and every one of them needed a break from moving none-stop. A couple of them took a couple of breaths while keeping still in the small area they were in just outside of the small building. Rebecca sat down on a log the second she was over, needing a break from all that walking due to her pregnancy. "Who the fuck...was that back there?"

"I don't know." Luke replied, able to stand back up to full height the second he got his breath.

"Looks like he had a gun on you." Alvin admitted, speaking to both Luke and Lee.

"Not everything is what it seems." Lee clashed, looking somewhat annoyed that Nick just murdered an innocent like that. He shifted his attention towards the younger man, crossing his arms together in the process. "You straight up murdered that man!"

"That asshole drew on me!" Nick clashed, trying to defend himself from their judgment. "He was about to shoot."

"Was he?" Luke inquired.

"I'm telling you, man, he drew first." Nick swore, throwing his arm around during mid-sentence.

"Well that's what it looked like to me." Luke replied, countering his sentence with his own.

"Look, there's no point even arguing about it now." Carley joined in on their conversation, crossing her arms together as she looked towards both men.

Lee was so disappointed in Nick for what he had done. He still could not believe what he done, and bad enough, this made him look somewhat responsible since he was looking out for him now. He kept quiet for a moment as he shook his head to both sides. "Shut up, Nick."

Nick fell silent like he requested, not wanting to make himself look even worse for his own sake.

"What did you see, Lee?" Alvin asked Lee, him too looing angry about the murder Nick had just committed. "Was that guy going to shoot?"

"Fuck you, Luke, and you, too, Alvin." Nick swore at them, pointing two of his fingers towards them with an annoyed expression across his face. "You've been on my case the whole week."

"Look, the guy wasn't going to do anything." Lee spoke up in an attempt to finally putting an end to this argument of theirs.

Nick took note of what Lee just told him, but nevertheless, he still attempted to defend himself. "I know what I saw."

"Either way, you could have hit one of us." Luke warned, reminding him of how close they came to death today.

"You, but I didn't." Nick clashed, again, pointing two of his fingers towards them.

Luke could only think of one more way to prove Nick of his guilt, and to do this, he would have to remind him of the one person they lost today. He did not wish to do it since Pete acted as a fatherly-figure to Luke, but was left no choice. "Look, I...I now Pete was close to you Nick, but you can't-"

"Don't fucking talk about him." Nick warned, not wanting to hear any reminder of his uncle like he never existed.

"Do you think he was with Carver?" Carlos suggested, finally speaking up after he and his daughter had kept quiet during their argument.

"I don't know. I...No." Luke answered, knowing full well that whoever that man was would not be with Carver. "I don't think so. But he fell over."

"He fell off the damn bridge?" Alvin asked, placing both of his hands into his jacket.

"We have to keep moving." Carlos reminded them, still not wanting to take any chances just in case Carver truly was tracking them.

"I can't." Rebecca replied, placing her hand upon her stomach as the baby kicked her from the inside. "I need a minute."

"Fine." Carlos sighed, shifting his attention towards Luke for a moment, needing to speak with him about the current situation. "Luke, can I talk to you alone?"

The two men walked a few-feet over towards the trees to speak in private. Nick glared towards them for a moment before making his way over to the small station, needing to think things over.

Alvin turned his attention back towards Lee and Clementine for a moment when seeing his wife weakened by her pregnancy. "Hey, Lee, Clem, you guys got anything to eat? Bec's dying here."

"Alvin, I told you, I'm fine." Rebecca assured, placing her hand out towards him in denial.

"Wish we still had those juice boxes." Alvin sighed.

"Yeah, me, too." Sarah agreed, happy enough to sit down near Rebecca with Carley standing beside her.

"Sorry, I'm out." Clementine apologized, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

"Yeah, sorry, me too." Lee added, looking over towards the small building for a moment when he remembered what that man had mentioned before he was shot in the neck by the hands of Nick and his itchy trigger finger. "That man said he had food in the station."

"Mind checking it out for us guys?" Alvin requested, scanning the area for a moment to investigate if it was safe or not since they might not be going anywhere soon. "Maybe we could spend the night here."

"Sure." Lee agreed, wanting to help the couple out since they needed to be together now that Rebecca was close to giving birth. "I'll go and check it out while you guys wait."

Alvin appreciated this from the man he met not too long ago. He sat down beside his wife with his hands in his pockets, still keeping his attention focused on Lee of course. "Thanks Lee."

Lee smiled in response and prepared to make his way over towards the small station. He stopped in his tracks when Clementine moved beside him.

"Can I go with you?" Clementine inquired, a slight smile across her face when she remembered all the things they did together when she was younger. "It'll just be like when we invaded that train station."

"The first time you shot a walker." Lee praised, patting her head for a moment, and proceeding to make his way inside. "Sure, let's go."

The duo made their way over to the entrance of the station where Nick was sitting on a wooden bench, and by the looks of it, he seemed guilty for what he just did or he may just be thinking about what Lee and Luke had to him.

The second Lee and Clementine stood in front of him to check on him, he came out with the most randomness sentence ever: "I had to kill me mom."

Lee and Clementine both watched in shock for a moment to what he just said. He killed his mom? Is this why he was so angry all the time about his family? Even after Pete died?

"That sounds weird when I say it out loud, huh?" Nick admitted, showing a normal expression across his face like he had no emotions inside of him anymore. "Luke always used to push me. I never wanted to go into business with him. I remember when he sold me on it. His big plan. Some fucking plan. A case of beer and he just said, "Nick, we're burning daylight." And that was that. After six months, we were flat broke. But I didn't care. We were having fun. ..." he paused for a moment and finally got to the point of this story. "I wish I was like him. I wish I could just keep moving all the time. But I'm just not...built like that."

The second he finish the end of his story, Lee and Clementine were both surprised and unsure of what to say after hearing this little story of his. Lee was the first speak up, assuring him he knew what he was feeling inside. "I know how you feel, Nick. We're all lost people we care about. I lost my brother and my parents when all of this began."

Nick took note to what he was saying as he turned his attention over to Luke and Carlos, already knowing they were speaking about him. "I'm sure they're talking about me right now. "Luke, he is becoming a danger to the group!" he tried to mimic Carlos in a fake Spanish accent. "So who was that guy? I swear, it looked like he was holding you and Luke up. I figured he was with Carver."

"He did seem nice." Lee admitted,

"Damn..." Nick sighed. "If Alvin is in front of me, he takes that shot. What a fucking mess. Maybe I am losing it. I don't know anymore. God, I'm hungry. What time is it anyway?" he paused for a moment and looked towards his right wrist. He angrily punched the wooden bench, realizing he left something very valuable to him. "Damn. Damn!"

"What's up, man?" Lee inquired.

"I left my watch back at the cabin. It was Pete's." he sighed, holding his hand up to his face. "He gave it to me."

Lee's face brightened when he only just realized he possessed the watch. The morning before they set out to get the fish traps, Pete had lent Lee his watch to keep an eye on the time. He took off the watch that he kept around his wrist under his shirt, and offered it to Nick. "Here. Pete lent it me before we set out."

Nick's expression brightened into a happy one as he accepted the watch into his hands. He finally had a smile on his face, extremely grateful for what Lee had just given him. "Thank you. This means...Thank you, Lee."

The second his watch was strapped around his wrist, Nick stood up to go and talk with Carlos and Luke about what happened. "You know what; I'm going to go talk to them."

Lee and Clementine proceeded to make their way into the small station to search for the food this man had mentioned. Hopefully if the place was big enough, they may be able to stay there for the night just in case that storm hit sooner than they thought.

* * *

**Chapter 6 is completed, my fellow readers. The cabin group continue their journey up north in the next chapter where they will run into someone they never thought they would see again, and unlike the game, there is a chance it could not be Kenny since he got on the boat with his family. Stay tuned for "chapter 7: a blast from the past".**


	7. Chapter 7: a blast from the past

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 7: a blast from the past**

**Well, everyone, only a couple more chapters to go before I need to put this story on hold until _Episode 3: In Harm's Way _has been released. I apologize for this, but as you know, I am following the story. In the mean time, enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Lee opened up the door and made his way into the small station building, Clementine following him like usual. He held the door open for her for a moment for her to walk inside. The duo studied the small station from the inside, and they had to admit, this place looked twice as worse as the Motor Inn they used to stay at.

There was merely a single cot bed in the corner of the room, a couple of empty cans scattered across the room, a medium-sized trunk at the bottom of the window, and a shelf at the end with a knife and a couple of empty cans beside it. This place looked like a dump. But hey, it could be worse, and at least it was safe to sleep in by the looks of it.

"What a dump." Lee exclaimed, moving over towards the trunk to see if there was anything useful inside. After all, it did have a strong padlock attached across the lock tightly.

"Looks worse than my old tree house." Clementine admitted, making her way over towards the shelf, investigating for anything useful.

Lee knelt down to the trunk and attempted to pry it open with his bare hands, but it was too strong to break apart within his own strength. "Errrgh. Locked up tight. I don't see a key around here."

"That man probably had it." Clementine replied as she eyed the small survival knife set against the table, and by the looks of it, it did look like a good weapon. She picked up the knife within her hands, seeing the initials 'WM' carved on the casing. "Looks pretty good." she shifted her attention back towards Lee, offering him the knife. "Think you could open it with this, Lee?"

"Maybe, looks sharp enough after all. Thanks, sweat pea." Lee thanked, kindly accepting the knife into his hand. He knelt back down to the trunk, using the knife in an attempt to pry it open by breaking the padlock.

Giving it a couple of strong pulls with a couple of grunts, Lee was finally able to break the padlock, making the trunk accessible. He observed the inside of the trunk where he saw a few magazines on the left, and on the right were two canned foods. It must be the food the man mentioned on the bridge, but he did not seem to have as much as he though.

The door opened for a second time as Lee picked up both cans in his hands, and he and Clementine turned their attention towards the door to see it was Alvin, who walked inside to check for food, most likely for his wife. He sighed as he studied the station, surprised of how bad it looked. "Man, and I thought we had it bad. Look at this dump."

He approached Lee, who stood back up full height, holding both cans of food in his hands.

"Guess he did have food. Man, fuck Nick." Alvin sighed, still shocked about Nick's actions moments ago. Although he did feel sympathy for the younger man, he still had to admit it was crazy to what he did. "Nick's lost a lot of people, that's for sure. But that doesn't give him any excuse to start shooting up strangers."

"He was trying to help us. But I do agree with that he did was wrong." Lee agreed, having two separate opinions about the younger man with one being with him, and one being against him.

"Yeah, I know, I'm just saying..." Alvin explained. "I mean, you ever known anyone who would have done a thing like that?"

"Actually, yeah, I do." Lee answered, thinking back to the event more than two-years ago that caused a massive problem to their group shortly after the attack on the Motor Inn.

"What happened?" Alvin inquired.

"There was a woman in our group. Our home was attacked and we were forced to leave. She thought someone in our group was the traitor, and without hesitation, she shot this teenager." Lee answered, thinking back to that tragic day when Lilly caused so much pain and misery over her paranoid fears.

* * *

_Kenny finished off the walker by slamming his foot down onto it's head, crushing it's head and killing it once on for all. He walked back towards the others, who were all looking towards him when he was dealing with the walkers, so he could catch up on what was happening. "Now what the fuck's the problem?"_

_Before anyone could answer, the sound of a gunshot was fired and everyone fell silent. They were shocked as they looked towards Lilly, who was pointing Carley's Glock 17 pistol to where Ben WAS standing, and what they saw next shocked everyone._

_Ben was laying motionless on the ground with a bullet mark in between where his left eye was, and blood smearing across the ground. Lilly had shot him without hesitation, thinking that he was the traitor._

_Although Lee and everyone was shocked for a few seconds, he swiftly charged towards Lilly like a rampaging bull and gripped her right wrist with his left hand, and slammed her against the RV with his right hand. "DROP IT." he ordered._

_Lilly looked towards her hand, slightly regretting what she just did. Nevertheless, she obeyed and dropped the gun from her hand._

_Everyone looked down to Ben's corpse, not believing what had just happened. Why would Lilly do this? Why would she just shoot Ben like that? Sure, she may have her suspensions, but there was no need to shoot Ben in cold blood just like that._

_"Holy fuck..." Kenny mumbled to himself while he watched Carley kneel down to Ben's corpse to check if he was alive or not before he had his wife shouting for him. She must have heard the gunshot too._

_"KENNY, what's happening!?" Katjaa called out from inside the RV, clearly hearing the gunshot from the Glock 17 shoot through her eardrums._

_"Keep Duck away from the windows!" Kenny quickly responded towards his wife, not wanting his son to maybe lean through the window and witness what had just happened "Jesus CHRIST!". He hopped over Ben's corpse to stand on the other side of him to confront Lilly of her actions. "GET IN. We're leaving this crazy bitch!"_

_"He couldn't be trusted, Lee, I swear." Lilly promised, still being held under the group of Lee's strong grip. "Please."_

_"What are you gonna do, Lee?" Carley asked, although you could clearly tell by her face that she wanted Lilly gone, and that was that. "I say we leave her here!"_

_"I agree with Carley." Kenny agreed, still keeping his eyes locked on towards the woman he always had an argument with back at the Motor Inn. "I say we leave her for the walkers."_

_"Why. Why Lilly?" Lee inquired while he tried to figure out if she should be allowed back into the RV again. He thought to himself, what could happen if he took her with them? Would she attempted to kill one of them again? But if he left her behind, would he be any better than her?_

_Finally, Lee made up his mind his mind, and that was to leave her behind. He could not risk letting her hurt anyone again. If he was to be shot be her, then what would become of Clementine? He released his grip fro her while he looked deep into her eyes with a hateful look. "You're not coming with us."_

_"I'll die out here." Lilly countered, gesturing her arm towards the road where walkers could be seen walking towards them in the distance._

_"I don't care." Lee replied, leaning down and picking up Carley's Glock 17 from the ground._

_"You're a murderer, Lilly." Kenny nudged, pointing his finger towards her about what she had just done: committed a murder. "We can't have you with us."_

_"I'm a murderer?!" You've had Lee with you this whole time!" Lilly reminded, gesturing her hand towards Lee, knowing that he had killed before the zombie apocalypse had began._

_"I don't care what he did before." Kenny replied, knowing about Lee's past after he had confessed it back at the Motor Inn to him, Katjaa, Clementine, and Carley (not knowing that she already knew)._

_"You know?!" Lilly said surprised, realizing that there was nothing else she could possibly say that would let her back into the group._

_"Yeah, he told me. I don't give a shit." Kenny answered, before he turned this conversation about murders back over to Lilly. "If we keep you with us, how long until you get ME?"_

_"I was trying to protect all of us." Lilly added, hoping that her former group would let her back in if you tried to convince them she was just trying to look out for everyone else._

_"By killing one of our own!?" Carley said, angry at Lilly that she could just kill her right now after she just shot one of her closet friends like that._

_"I don't have anything left." Lilly said, remembering that her dad was he only thing she had left before Kenny dropped a salt lick on his head while she nervously rubbing her left arm with her right hand._

_Kenny looked towards her for a few seconds before declaring it was time to go before they would attract any unwanted attention. "Get in, Lee. Let's go you guys."_

_Carley and Kenny each shot a hateful look towards Lilly before they got back into the RV now that the walker was dealt with. Lee did the same, except it took him a little longer. He looked towards her with a angry face before joining the others in the RV, closing the door behind him._

* * *

"Damn, what did you do?" Alvin asked, causing Lee to daze out from his thoughts.

"We left her on the side of the road. She was too dangerous to keep around." Lee answered, always wondering if he made the right choice or not by leaving Lilly at the side of the road like that.

"Oh." Alvin merely replied, unsure of what to say exactly. He accepted one of the cans into his hands from Lee, and a smile raised across his face as he showed the can to Clementine. "That's funny. She looks just like you."

Lee rose a smile across his face when seeing the resemblance between his adoptive daughter and the girl on the tin. He turned towards Clementine, whom did not seem to be amused by his remark, and folded her arms together, giving the two men a saucy look.

"Hey, Lee, there's not a lot of food, and Rebecca well...she's eating for two. You think we can keep this just between us three?" Alvin requested with a smile across his face, wanting to give all of the food for his wife that would allow her to keep up her strength. "I hate to even say it, you know, but...And I'd never go against the group. But I've got to put Bec and the baby first. You guys understand, right?"

Lee and Clementine thought about his request for a moment, but it did not feel right. Clementine thought the group should decide on who gets the food, and Lee was worried from what Luke told him earlier: the baby possibly being Carver's. Alvin was so concerned about feeding a child that was most likely not even his.

Lee was about to say not, but decided to let him give him the food this time for Rebecca and her unborn baby's sake. "Rebecca can have it. I won't say anything just this once."

"Thanks, Lee. I'm glad you, Carley and Clementine are with us." Lee thanked, turning back towards the exit of the station to join the others. However, he froze in his steps when he spotted something in the distance out from the window. "The hell is that?"

Lee walked beside him to investigate what was wrong. His eyes widened when the sight of multiple walkers could be seen crossing the bridge. "Shit, walkers."

Alvin panicked slightly as he quickly departed from the inside of the station, joining the others outside, and by the looks on their expressions, they seemed to notice the situation as well. "We got a problem here."

"Yeah, we saw it." Luke replied, shifting his attention towards their group. "All right,we're heading up."

The former cabin group ran as fast as they could go in an attempt avoid the walkers that were pursing them. Hopefully, they could elude them on their way up and save themselves whatever ammunition they had left.

* * *

After a few minutes or running through the woods, everyone had managed to lose the pursing walkers (or so they thought so, at least) and made it to that ski lodge they spotted from the other side of the river. It took all of them a few minutes to catch their breaths back while they tried to find the entrance to the ski lodge.

Near the side of the ski lodge, Rebecca caught up to Carlos and Nick while panting slightly as she was desperate to get inside, needing to rest after walking for five days none-stop. "Well? What are we waiting for?"

"We have to be careful." Carlos answered, keeping a close eye on the cabin, obviously not wanting to rush in there just in case it was inhabited.

"Careful?" Rebecca repeated, placing both of her hands upon her hips. "We've been on the road for five days. My back is done being careful."

Alvin caught up to the others and began to study the ski lodge, noticing the entire place was nailed up tight with boards, leaving only a couple of windows exposed to see through. "Doesn't look like anybody's home. Damn. Nailed down tight."

"That's what we thought about this train we ran into once." Carley clashed, raising her Glock 17 in both of her hands, expecting trouble.

"What happened?" Alvin inquired.

"Some old guy was living there. At first, we thought he was dangerous, but he was nice, and accompanied us to this city we were heading." Carley answered, thinking back for a moment to that day when she or the others never got the chance to find out Chuck's fate after he had saved them. "He was surrounded by walkers. We never got the chances to find out what happened to him."

"Damn." Alvin sighed, feeling it was unfair when the good people in this world were always the first to die. He stood back up to full height after seeing there was no way in through the windows, meaning he needed to look for an alternative entrance. "I'll check around front."

"I'll go with you." Carlos offered, following him around the other side of the ski lodge.

While they were waiting for someone to declare if it was safe or not, Lee and Clementine rested their arms against a wooden railing , looking over into the distance towards the way they came.

The duo were soon accompanied by Luke, who had an expression across his face like he had the feeling someone could be tracking their group without them knowing.

"Well, it'd be good to know if anybody's actually back there." Luke admitted, shifting his attention towards the top of a small tower nearby. "Could probably get a better view from up top. I'd go up, but I think Clementine might have an easier time getting up there. It'll be just like climbing a tree house. You know, just a really tall treehouse. Made of steel."

Lee thought about his request for a moment about sending his adoptive daughter to the top of the tower. He had to accept the fact Clementine was grown up now, and she was no longer the little girl he met when this apocalypse began. "Sure. If she's up for it, that is?"

"I had a treehouse once." Clementine told Luke, turning away from him for a moment. "I hated it."

The second it was settled that she would be the Lee and Clementine followed Luke towards the tower. She approached the ladder and looked up, seeing it was quite high, and looked a little difficult to climb.

"Just take it slow, and I'll catch you if you fall, Clem." Lee assured her, already preparing for the worse if it were to happen.

Clementine placed her hands upon the ladders and began climbing up the ladders while Lee and Luke waited for her below, prepared to catch her is she were to slip and fall.

"Got a good grip?" Luke inquired.

"Yeah." she replied as she began climbing up the ladders, trying her best not to look down and keep focused on climbing up.

"Just keep going, Clem, and don't stop until you reach the top. And if you slip, I'll be right here to catch you." Lee assured her, merely watching as she continued climbing slowly as she could go, not wanting to risk anything if this ladder was unstable.

Luke watched as she continued climbing up the steps, and decided to speak up to her in a assuring tone like Lee was, and that this was nothing compared to what he use to do. "When I was a kid we used to jump rooftops downtown. Now that was fun."

"That sounds stupid." Clementine admitted, already half-way up the small tower.

"I kinda agree with her there." Lee agreed, shifting his eyes towards Luke with his arms crossed together, giving him a saucy look. "That does sound stupid."

"Yeah, yeah, it was." Luke admitted. "The trick was to not look down though."

The young girl continued climbing and almost reached the top of the tower, until suddenly, she cried out in panic as her left foot had slipped, almost losing her grip. She clutched on for dear life, closing her eyes as tight as she could.

"Whoa, whoa!" Lee panicked, holding his arms out in front of his body as high as they would go, preparing to catch her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're fine." Luke soothed, holding both of his arms up, preparing to catch her too in a similar way to Lee. "Just look at me, okay? You're fine...Alright, just-just slow down. Just for a second, okay? Got your grip?"

Clementine merely nodded her head in response, still with her eyes closed as she froze in her position. She took a couple of breaths as she looked up and took a couple of breaths before making her way up the tower.

After a few more terrifying climbing seconds, Clementine finally made it to the top of the tower, finally feeling safe. She stood up as she looked beyond the valley, the only thing keeping her company was a black bird perched on the railing. "Made it."

"See anything?" Luke inquired, raising his voice a little louder for Clementine to hear him.

Clementine raised her binoculars back over her eyes, looking back into the distance, back the way they came. She spotted the bridge they had crossed over (and almost died on) on. "I can see the bridge! Wait, I see something!"

Near the end of the bridge, a light had emerged from the woods. There were multiple thoughts to what it could be racing around Clementine's mind. Could it be Carver and his men? Or maybe it was just other people passing through?

"You do?" Lee asked.

"What is it?" Luke inquired a hint of worry in his voice as soon as Clementine mentioned she saw something.

"A light-" Clementine stopped in mid-sentence when yet another light had emerged from the woods. "Wait, there's another. Lee! Luke! Lee? Luke?"

Clementine placed her binoculars down and turned around to see Lee was still waiting for her below, but had his attention turned towards the ski lodge. Luke, however, had run over towards the others. She watched as he joined the group who were now standing on the other side of what appeared to be another group. There were four of them, and it did not look good so far since Nick and one of them were aiming their weapons at each other. Figures."

"Clem, get back down here!" Lee requested, he too watching the entire thing from where he was standing to catch Clementine if she fell.

She carefully got back into a climbing position and carefully climbed back down the tower, praying she would not slip and fall. Hopefully, once she got down, Lee could quickly sort out this situation before any of them opened fire.

Nearby from where the two were aiming their weapons and one and other, Luke attempted to refuse the situation without any violence. "Listen, everyone, just stay calm."

A woman from the other group spoke to them in an Indian accent, angrily demanding answers. "Who are you?! Are you trying to rob us?"

"Excuse me, honey, but do I look like a fucking thief?" Rebecca responded to her.

"Everyone calm down." a man with a red and grey sweater soothed, raising his hands near the front of his body. "Just tell us who you are."

"Sarah, got behind me." Carlos ordered his daughter, preparing to protect her as he could sense the situation getting out of hand.

"Hey man, you calm the fuck down." Alvin told him. "We ain't here to rob nobody. Put the gun down, lady."

"You're outnumbered." Carley told them, but was unable to see them since she was standing behind everyone else, and she is quite small for her height, of course.

"Fuck you!" another female voice clashed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Luke soothed, realizing one of them were going to fire soon if nobody did anything to prevent this. It was just like the bridge situation again.

"Please, just do what she says." the Indian woman pleaded.

While they were arguing, Lee and Clementine moved in front of their friends to investigate what was happening. The duo marched their way in front of everyone else, keeping their attention focused on the woman with the gun.

Lee's eyes widened as he eyed the woman holding the rifle towards them, unable to believe she was here. She should be dead, but here she was, standing right in front of his eyes. "Lilly...?!"

That's right. The familiar face was no other than Lilly herself. The question of how she was here is a mystery. Lee and the others left her on the side of the road more than two-years ago, and now here she was, standing in front of her former group. She was now wearing army cargo pants, and was wearing a black hoodie zipped-up, similar to the one the Indian lady was wearing. Her hair had now grown a little longer, but she did not look that different overall.

Lilly slowly dropped her gun down after seeing her familiar friends, and rather than be angry at them for leaving her like they expected, she too was surprised. She eyed her three former friends, unable to believe if this was real or not. "Lee...? Clementine?! Carley?"

"Wait, you know this lady?" Luke asked Lee.

Lee was about to answer with the story about what she did to Ben over two-years ago, but what good would that do? That would make the situation even worse than it needed to be. For now, he told a lie to keep everyone from shooting each other. "Yeah, we're, uh, old friends. Right Lilly?"

Lilly could see what he was getting it, and decided to go along with this little lie of his. "Yeah. We knew each other a while back. We should, uh, get inside."

"Great. I just started dinner." the man with the sweater agreed.

Carlos looked towards the other group for a moment with his arms crossed together, now beginning to trust them since Lee, Clementine, and Carley knew one of them. His daughter looked happy enough, but he still had a couple of doubts. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"It's going to storm soon." the man warned, offering them shelter for the night. "Please, come in."

Lilly's group leaded the other survivors around the cabin towards the man entrance inside. While they were walking, Lee and Lilly looked towards one and other for a moment, but even despite what happened in the past, the two raised a slight smile at each other. Maybe everything was going to be okay after all.

* * *

**Lilly has returned, ladies and gentleman, and neither of the groups are aware of Lilly's past. Let us hope nothing will go wrong while they are staying at the ski lodge. Stay tuned for the next chapter, folks.**


	8. Chapter 8: the ski lodge

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 8: the ski lodge**

**Hey, everyone, good news: there have been some leaked screenshots from In Harms Way from Telltale. Be sure to look them up, but in the meantime, enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Seconds after being interested with their once friend Lilly, the man (introduced as Walter by Lilly) held the glass door open for Lee, Clementine, and Carley as they walked inside the ski lodge.

When they were inside, Lee watched in amazement as he studied the sky lodge, seeing the entire place was full of decorations such as Christmas lights hanging around the ceilings and the wooden support beams, flags of different countries hanging on the ceilings, with peaceful music feeling the air, a nice, warm fire kept the entire place warm, and to top it off, there was a Christmas tree near the wooden stairs.

Walter moved beside Lee and Carley while both of them had nothing to say nothing for a moment. "Lilly and Sarita have been staying with us for several weeks. Used to be a ski lodge, obviously, so we have plenty of food." he paused just for a second and began walking up the small steps. "And believe it or not, we still get some power from that wind turbine out front. We tend to keep most of the lights off at night to avoid drawing attention. But after we found this stuff in storage, we couldn't resist making an exception."

"Looks like a great place." Lee admitted, but at the same time, cautious when he thought back to another place that they thought to be great but turned out to be something you would see from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

"It's amazing!" Carley exclaimed, studying the decorations hanging around the ceilings and walls.

Walter shifted his attention back towards the exit when Luke, Nick, Alvin, and Rebecca had walked inside, studying the inside of the ski lodge like Lee and the others did moments ago. "Please, make yourselves at home. You can leave your things over there."

Rebecca looked towards where he was pointing that was a small bench by the side of the exit, and almost immediately, she showed an un-trusting attitude towards them. "The hell we will."

"Yeah, I'm holding onto my rifle, thanks." Nick declined, having the same attitude as Rebecca did: untrustworthy.

"You're our guests here." Walter reassured them, speaking in a soothing voice in an attempt to keep them from worrying. "There's no need to worry."

"Tell her to put his gun down, then." Nick quickly responded, referring to Lilly who was still holding her Winchester Model 70 in her hands.

Walter turned towards Lilly for support, wanting to show the other group they were trustworthy. "Lilly?"

Lilly hesitated for a moment before turning to Lee for support, knowing that he was good at making good delicious, and possibly due to her being a member of their group. "Can you trust these people, Lee? If you tell them their good, then I'm good."

"Hey, you were the one aiming the gun at us." Nick argued.

"Only because you drew first!" Lilly countered, allowing her temper to get the best of her that gave her a slightly angry expression.

"We're cool, okay? Hey, hey, we're cool, we're cool." Luke quickly assured them, sensing things were about to get bad again.

"Lee?" Lilly, still wanting an answer from him if he trusted this group or not.

Lee looked back at both groups for a moment while they were arguing with one and other. He did not want no-one else to get into more fights, especially with his girlfriend and adoptive daughter present. "Everyone, calm down. Look, everyone's cool, we'll all set our things there at the same time, okay?"

Everyone obeyed his request and remained silent for a moment, the only thing they could hear was the music in the background. The door opened shortly after, revealing it to be Sarita, whom had leaded Carlos, Sarah, and Pete into the cabin.

Sarah got somewhat a little enthusiastic when she spotted the Christmas tree near the stairs. "Dad! Look! A Christmas tree!"

"Not now, Sarah." Carlos declined, placing his hand onto her arm to keep her from wondering away. By the looks of it, he wanted to make sure this place was okay before letting his daughter out from his sight.

"Isn't it great?" Sarita said to Sarah. "We found it all in storage."

"It's amazing." Sarah admitted, admiring all the Christmas decorations around the ski lodge.

Lilly still hesitated for a moment, trying to decide whenever or not to put her rifle down, but when seeing Clementine and Sarah, it soothed her attitude for a moment. For the sake of their being children present, she walked over towards the small bench and set her rifle down.

The members from the opposite group finally decided to place their items down on the small wooden bench. Luke was the first to walk over there, and set his machete down. Nick followed suit, Carley set her Glock 17 down, and then the others did, too; setting their weapons and supplies down.

"Good." Sarita smiled, beckoning for the others to follow her once everything was settled now. "If you'll all follow me, I'll show you where you can sleep."

As soon as everyone else was gone, Lilly beckoned for Lee, Carley and Clementine to follow him where they could talk privately and catch up on old times. The four of them walked towards a small living room with comfortable chairs and a nice warm fire to keep them warm in this weather.

Lilly sat on the single sofa while the trio Lee, Clementine, and Carley sat on the big family couch with Clementine in the middle, Carley on the left, and Lee on the right. The four of them remained silent for a moment, unsure of what to say towards one and other.

Lilly was the first to speak after a moment of silence. She closed her eyes with her head lowered down sheepishly, looking somewhat regretful and in sadness. "...Lee...When I shot Ben...It's...It's haunted me ever since..." she paused and turned her attention towards the older man. "I...I never wanted to shoot him. I...I was just so worried for our group, I let the anger get the best of me..."

"...What are you trying to say exactly, Lilly?" Lee inquired, already knowing where she was going with this.

"...I'm sorry." she apologized, and this certainly left each of them shocked. In the past, Lilly was never one to be regretful or even apologize, but now hear she was, like a completely different person. "I'm sorry for what I did, for everything. I'm not mad for you leaving me on the side of the road, and I don't expect none of you to forgive me...But I thought you should know."

Lee fell silent for a moment and turned towards both his adoptive daughter and girlfriend for support in this matter. Both of them gave him a look like they were saying "You know what you need to do". Could he find it in his heart to forgive her or not? Would this finally make things right after they never had the best of relationships?

He sighed and shifted his attention back towards Lilly, who seemed patient enough to expect his answer soon. "Lilly...We forgive you for killing Ben. But we won't forget. And don't worry, we won't tell your group anything."

"Thanks Lee." Lilly smiled, showing her full gratitude towards him, knowing that Lee was always one to make the best decisions when it came to tough situations.

Now that was settled, Lee changed the subject at this very moment, wanting to catch upon old times since it had been more than two-years since. "So, how'd you end up here?"

"I was on my own for a while, being able to keep moving on my own. It was tough, but eventually, Walter and his partner Matthew found me in the woods a few months back. And I've pretty much been staying here." Lilly answered, not being able to give much detail since it was such a long time ago. "What about you three?"

"Just been moving, really." Carley simply answered, leaning back against the couch with her arms folded together.

"We were heading up north." Lee added, but did not want to give too much detail on their exact location for now.

"What happened...To the others?" Lilly inquired. "Did they...You know?"

Lee already knew what she meant by this, and quickly responded in a fast tone. "No, no, no! Kenny and his family got on a boat with these other two people we met on the way to Savannah." Lee answered. "We all could not fit on the boat, so we made our way out from the city, and just kept moving really."

At almost perfect timing with the end of his sentence, Sarita had returned to check up on the four friends with a smile across her face. "You four catching up?"

"Lee, Clem, Carley, this is Sarita." Lilly introduced them, looking back towards the trio and then towards Sarita for a moment. "She's been here for a while. Sarita, these are some people from my first group. This is Lee, Clementine, and Carley."

"Nice to meet you all." Sarita replied smiling, but turned her attention towards Walter whom was making his way towards the cafeteria to prepare food. "Hey Walter, where's Matty? Is he still out there?"

"Of course he is." Walter assumed, continuing his way over towards the kitchen area. "Well, I'll go and start dinner."

The rest of cabin group returned downstairs after settling in, and Sarita was the first to greet them, but she mainly had her attention focused on Carlos and his daughter Sarah. She approached the duo, and requested a little favor from the doctor. "Carlos, right? Mind if I steal your daughter for a secret mission?"

Sarah raised a slight smile and turned to her father for approval, wanting to help out Sarita with the decorations.

Despite the fact Carlos had some doubts with the rest of the group, he felt he could trust Sarita since she was kind to them, and agreed with letting them stay for the night, after all. "Stay in sight, sweetie."

Sarita led Sarah over to the Christmas tree, and the duo began to decorate it together to help brighten up the place. As long as Carlos did not keep constantly looking at his daughter ever two minutes, then it should be fun.

As for the rest of the group, Luke walked around Carlos with Nick , offering their assistance as a favor for letting them stay. "Can we do anything to help?"

"Could use a little hand outside." Lilly answered, standing back up to full height from where she was sitting. "We got a lot of supplies we need to bring in before that storm hits."

"Sure." Luke agreed, walking towards the exit of the ski lodge with Nick beside him.

"Clem, why don't you help Walt with dinner?" Lilly suggested to the young girl before she headed back outside to help Luke and Nick with the supplies.

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea." Lee agreed, placing his hand upon her shoulder for a moment in improvement. "Right Clem?"

"Yeah...Right." Clementine agreed, making her way over towards the cafeteria like they suggested.

"I'm gonna go check on the others." Lee told Carley, making his way towards the stairs where the remaining members of his group were.

Now that everyone had something to keep them occupied for a while, Clementine made her way towards the cafeteria to help out with dinner like Lilly suggested. She made her way over to Walter, who was stirring some food in a cooking pot with a wooden spoon.

"Hey Clementine." Walter greeted, taking his spoon out from the cooking pot. "You and your friends settling in well enough?"

"Yeah, thanks." Clementine smiled, already being able to tell this man was nice like a couple of the other people she knew like Lee, Carley, Alvin, Luke, Katjaa, and a couple others.

"Excellent. Want to help me prepare a little dinner?" Walter offered, smiling as he watched her observe the contents inside of the pot. He began stirring the food again while making conversation between them both. "So how do you know Lilly? She and Sarita have been a huge help. Matthew and I barely knew what to do around here the first week. "But Lilly, well, she never slows done."

"It's a long story." Clementine admitted, unsure of where to start.

Walter paused for a moment and looked towards her with a sad expression. He shrugged it off as he continued to make dinner. "Connecting with people is so important. I don't know what I'd do without Matthew." he admitted, tipping some salt into the cooking pan, being with Clementine reminded him of good times before the dead had risen. "Gosh, you remind me of my students. I can't imagine what it's like growing up in the middle of all this."

"Everyone underestimates me." Clementine replied, showing she was useful in many ways despite her young age.

"I expect you have used that to your advantage." Walter wondered.

"Sometimes." Clementine admitted, shrugging her shoulders slightly before crossing her arms together.

"Smart girl." Walter smiled, dipping his spoon into the food to get a little piece for him to taste. "Hmm. Almost done. Would you do me the honor of tasting the first course, madam?"

Clementine stared into his cooking pot for a moment, and the sight of it's contents made her feel a little queasy. "Looks..Good. What is it?"

"Le Walter Surprise. An autumnal legume salad with a peace roux." Walter answered, speaking in some kind of posh language that Clementine did not seem to understand. "It's peaches and beans. It's all we have got."

Walter paused for a moment and picked up one of the empty cans to show towards Clementine, and to her surprise, it looked very familiar. "Huh. Striking resemblance."

Her eyes widened for a moment when seeing the empty can but she quickly shrugged it off before he would notice. The man who Nick shot owned the exact same cans as he did. Could he be related to their group by some chance?

"Anyway, I'll take it from here." Walter replied, carefully picking up the cooking pot in his hands up from the stove. He began humming a song to himself as he walked away from Clementine's sight.

Now the cooking was out the way, Clementine wondered off on her own to check out the ski lodge more. She knelt down to the radio and picked up one of the CD's sitting beside it, reading it's contents. ""Cousin Jared's concert, October 13th, 1998.""

She looked towards the Christmas tree that was currently being decorated by Sarita and Sarah, and was happy to see it brought back some memories, memories from the past. "I haven't seen one of these since..."

While Clementine was observing the place, nearby Sarita and Sarah were still decorating the Christmas tree together. As they continued decorating, Sarita began humming a song to herself that Sarah seemed to take an interest to.

"What's the song you're humming?" Sarah inquired.

"Good King Winceslas." Sarita answered while tying more decorations to the tree. "It's my favourite Christmas song."

"What's it about?" Sarah asked.

"Well, it's about a king that brings food to a poor man. The King and his servant march all night through a cold winter storm to reach the man. The storm is very strong. After a long time, it gets so cold that the servant can't go on. But the king tells the servant to just step in his tracks." Sarita explained, taking a breath as she began singing some of the song to Sarah. "_"Mark my footsteps, good my age. Tread thou in them boldly. Thou shalt find the winter's rage freeze thy blood loss coldly."_"

"I don't get it." Sarah replied, unsure to what these strange words meant exactly in English terms.

Sarita chuckled a little in response before trying to explain the song to her in a kind way. "It means that doing good things for people can be good for you, too."

"But the servant wouldn't have been out there in the first place if the king hadn't made him." Sarah queried, confused to how that was good.

"Good point." Sarita agreed, chuckling a little for a moment. She placed her hand upon her hip as she studied the tree before seeing a familiar face approach them both. "Clem, we could use some help. Here, Sarah, you take this and string them up over there."

Clementine helped out for a moment by hanging some more of the bulbs onto the tree since she had nothing to do for a while.

"You knew Lilly before. It must be incredible to see her again." Sarita admitted, remembering back to the day Lilly arrived to the ski lodge. "I remember when Walter and Matthew brought her back here...She use to be angry a lot, but...Well...She's different now... But you must be so glad."

"Did she say anything about before?" Clementine inquired, wondering how she had coped since leaving her on the side of the road.

"No. She didn't mention much before we met her." Sarita replied while she adjusted some of the decorations across the Christmas tree to make sure they did not fall off. She leaned back out to see the young girl staring at her. "Everything takes a little waiting these days."

The trio took a couple of steps back to observe the Christmas tree. It looked just about finished, but Sarita still had one more decoration to put on top. "Perfect. Now we just need the topper."

"We always had an angel on top of our tree." Sarah replied, [lacing her left hand placed upon her right arm.

"My family didn't celebrate Christmas, but I still love the decorations." Sarita admitted, proud to celebrate a tradition that she never took part in the past.

Before long, Clementine wondered off while she was talking to look for a topper for them. She had no idea where to look, but it should not take her too long.

* * *

Meanwhile in the upstairs of the ski lodge, Lee, Carley, Carlos, Alvin and Rebecca were discussing an important matter: the lights Clementine had spotted down below. They were trying to decide if this could be Carver and his followers or not.

"It's crazy. Why would they follow us this far?" Rebecca wondered, but deep down, she already knew the answer why, and had to keep quiet.

"We can't be sure." Carlos admitted, turning towards the wooden stairs for a moment when Clementine had arrived.

"It could have been anybody." Lee added, folding his arms together. "How do you know it wasn't just any random group?"

"We don't know that for sure, Lee." Carlos countered, picking out the flaws in each of their suggestions.

"It's been a week, man." Alvin reminded them, assuring them that they were miles away from Carver. "We got to be out of the woods." he placed his hands into his pockets upon finishing his sentence.

"We can't be sure. They might be tracking us." Carlos suggested, raising a worried expression across his face.

"Tracking?" Alvin repeated, taking his hands out from his pockets again. "Who do you think they are, ninjas?"

Rebecca merely shook her head in response before noticing Clementine had arrived, and this only just reminded her of why they were even arguing in the first place. "Clem, Lee said you saw some people in the valley?"

"It's true." Lee assured, kneeling down to Clementine's height level for a moment. "What did you see, Clem?"

"People? Way down there? How?" Alvin asked, wondering how anyone could see that far down.

"She's got binoculars, genius." Rebecca reminded him, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah." Alvin replied, crossing his arms together.

"What did you see, Clementine?" Carlos inquired; worried that he may be right about Carver's group still tracking them, and deep down, he wish he was not correct.

"I saw lights." Clementine simply answered.

"Which way did they go?" Rebecca inquired.

"Back into the woods." Clementine answered, but this was technically a lie since she had no idea where they went because of the whole two-groups-about-to-kill-each-other that caused her to shift her attention away from them.

Carlos now felt somewhat relieved that there was a chance whoever those people were in the valley might have gone the other way, but nevertheless, he still did not want to take any risks. "We cannot take any chances. We leave at dawn."

"But we're safe here for tonight, right?" Rebecca asked, only to get no respond from any of them if they were going to be alright.

"Clementine, you talk to that man Walter, right?" Carlos inquired, remembering when he heard Lilly suggest to her to go and help Walter with dinner. "What did he say? You didn't tell him anything about us, did you? We have to be careful. They could be hiding something."

"He didn't look like he was hiding anything." Lee said, standing back up to full height whilst speaking with the other members of his group.

"He seems like a nice guy." Carley added.

"No, nothing's wrong. I didn't tell him anything." Clementine reassured them, rubbing her left hand up her right arm. "We just talked about Lilly, and I helped him make dinner."

"Look, I don't care what that man said. We're staying here tonight." Alvin replied, trying to be serious with Carlos, but deep down, he was only doing this out of concern for his wife.

Carlos could see there was no changing their minds about leaving tonight, and decided to just accept their wishes for now. However, he did have a little task for Lee and Clementine while they were here. "Lee, Clem, just talk to the rest of them. They trust you both. See what you can find out. I'm going to go find Luke."

"I'll go with you." Carley offered, following Carlos down to the wooden stairs.

Seconds after Carlos and Carley were gone, Rebecca felt herself feeling somewhat light-headed, possibly from walking for five days when so close to giving birth. "Honey, I don't feel good."

"Bec, what's wrong?" Alvin inquired, kneeling down to her with a concerned face.

"I just need something to drink." Rebecca requested, this time, she did need him to do something for her.

"You got it." Alvin agreed, standing back up to get his wife a drink. "I'll be right back."

Now that Alvin was gone, it was only Lee and Clementine left to keep Rebecca company until her husband returned. Lee showed an concerned face when he noticed Rebecca not looking her brightest today. "Hey Rebecca, you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just need something to drink." Rebecca assured, taking a couple of breaths for a moment to recover.

Before doing back downstairs, Clementine looked into a small box near the stairs where she found what she was looking for: Christmas Toppers. Three Christmas decorations left there: a bulb, a star, and an angel. She was about to take the star, but remembered how Sarah mentioned she had an angel on top of her tree every year, and it might make her happy to see the angel.

Once she had the angel for the topper, Clementine made her way back to the top of the stairs and leaned over to place the angel carefully on top of the tree.

Down below, Sarah looked up to observe the topper Clementine had placed on top of the tree that caused her to smile in happiness. "She looks so cool!"

Sarita leaned up from the inside of the tree and observed the same topper on top of the tree. She would have preferred the star, but as long as everyone was happy, then she would be too. "Beautiful. I used to love this time of year. You know, now that your friends are here, this place is starting to feel like a real home."

Sarita sighed for a moment while remembering the kindness the two partners shared with them. "Matthew and Walter are amazing people. Honestly, it's dangerous to be this kind. But they can't help it. The first time I met Matthew, he called me Rita. So I call him Matty now. It's kind of our little war." Sarita explained, keeping a hand placed to her hip.

"What does Matthew look like?" Clementine inquired.

"Oh, charming person, he's Asian-American, around his middle twenties." Sarita described, and this left Clementine a little surprised. The detail she gave sounded just like the man Lee and Luke met on the bridge. She was not there, of course, but as watching the entire encounter through her binoculars.

"Clem, I wanted to ask you...Does Lilly seem different to you?" Sarita inquired. "She always use to be a little angry and tried to do things on her own, and well...I'm curious. She has good days and bad days like everyone else. But lately I get the feeling she's...struggling."

"She does seem different than I remember." Clementine admitting, recalling earlier when Lilly felt sad for what she did to Ben and even apologized for her actions.

"In what say?" Sarita inquired.

"I'm not sure." Clementine admitted.

Before any of them could discuss anything further, they were greeted by the same person they had just been talking about. "Been decorating the tree. Looks nice."

"Hey Lilly, looks nice, doesn't it?" Sarita asked her.

"Yeah...It does..." Lilly trailed off for a moment when a sadness expression rose across her face. This may be most likely because of the Christmas being a family tradition, and since the death of her father, she had no family left.

Lilly turned around and began walking away, and this caused Sarita sighed when realizing what she was talking about just happened in front of her own eyes. She turned back towards Clementine and sent her away in an attempt to change the subject "Why don't you see if your friends are ready for dinner, Clementine?"

Clementine nodded as she made her way back upstairs to check on Rebecca. The second she was up, she noticed the Lee was no longer present and Rebecca still looked a little unwell. "Are you okay?"

"Just got a little dizzy." Rebecca replied, lowering her head in sadness when worried as scary thoughts raced around her mind. "I can't even take care of myself. How am I supposed to raise a child? I mean, how can anyone now? Everything's fucked up."

"It's not going to be easy." Clementine admitted, rubbing her hand against her arm modestly.

Rebecca lowered her head in sadness, realizing the young girl's words were right. "I know it's going to be hard. But at the same time, I already feel a little less lonely." she placed her hand upon her belly. "Because I know that no matter what happens, I'll get to meet someone new."

Rebecca paused for a moment as she kept her hand onto her stomach, feeling her baby move around inside that made her happy. "She's kicking. Want to listen?" she offered, looking down towards her stomach where she began talking to her unborn baby. "That food smells good, huh? It's okay. We're going to get you something soon."

"Can I?" Clementine requested, wondering what it was going to be like to hear a baby kicking. She carefully placed the side of her head near Rebecca's stomach, hearing a slight thumbing noise inside.

"She's going to be runner." Rebecca joked, raising a smile as Clementine took her head off from her belly. Her smiled soon dropped as she struggled to hold back her tears, confessing something to Clementine that she had not told anyone else, even her husband. "It's not his."

Clementine was not really shocked about this since she already figured that out when speaking with Luke, but why she told her was a mystery. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I trust you. For some reason. And I can tell you've kept a few secrets." Rebecca explained, lowering her head down in sadness and fear. "If he finds out, he'll kill me. I don't know what to do...I can't believe I'm asking a little girl for advice. But I guess nothing is weird anymore."

"He won't kill you." Clementine assured, knowing that Alvin was nice just by looking at him.

Rebecca was about to reply further but suddenly changed the subject and her expression when Alvin had returned, carrying a bottle of water with him. "There's my man."

"You alright, baby?" Alvin inquired.

"I'm fine, you big dope." Rebecca assured, teasing him slightly while she accepted the bottle of water from him.

"Just need to get some food in you." Alvin replied, turning around for a moment to thank Clementine for keeping his wife company. "Thanks for staying with her, Clem."

Clementine smiled in response as she made her way back downstairs with the others. At almost perfect timing, Walter had declared it was time for everyone to eat, and this was great news for those who had not eaten in a while. "Well everyone, dinner is served. Come on, let's eat."

Both groups made their way over towards the cafeteria, eager for something to eat. Every sat down on the wooden bench tables as Walter carried the pot around, giving everyone their dinner. The former cabin group sat on one side while the ski lodge group sat on the other, obviously wanting to keep separate from each other.

Luke sat down the opposite side from Nick, and noticed he had a somewhat worried expression across his face. "You okay, man?"

"Yeah. I'm just...I just wish I hadn't pulled that trigger." Nick replied, closing his eyes as the thoughts of shooting Matthew raced around his mind.

"Just try to forget about it." Luke advised, acting like a brotherly-figure towards him.

Everyone had settled down and eaten their dinner, and despite the fact they lived in a world full of the undead roaming around and sickos out there who would try and kidnap, rape, and steal from those who were weak, this Christmas dinner seemed nice and even brought back some happy memories for some of them. Maybe there was still hope in this world, after all.

* * *

**This chapter is written, beta read, and published for all of the, ladies and gentleman. I hope you all stay tuned for the next chapter that should be the last for a while, but I got the feeling the next episode is going to be released soon. Stay tuned, folks.**


	9. Chapter 9: attacked

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 9: attacked**

**Greetings everyone, this is is going to be the last chapter until the next episode has been released. But the good news is there has been a new character confirmed for the next episode: his name is Regi. Just thought I would let you folks know.**

**Any who****, here is chapter 9, and enjoy.**

* * *

The members from both groups sat quietly while they continued eating their Christmas dinner in peace. Each of them were seeming to have a good time while they were there, and even though the food did taste a little weird, it seemed to be to everyone's delight for the evening.

On the left side of the cafeteria area where Lee, Carley, Clementine, and all the others from the cabin were, Luke turned around for a moment and had his attention focused on Lilly, whom was unaware he was looking at her. He shifted his attention back towards Lee, who was sitting opposite of him with Clementine on his right and Carley on his left sides (from Luke's P.O.V). "So what's the deal with your friend over there?"

"Yes. We were just talking about this Lilly." Carlos joined in on the conversation as he had only just sat down in between Luke and Rebecca. "What do you make of her, Lee?"

Lee had almost answered his question with the truth, but that would not do good and lead to nothing but chaos. He quickly changed his answer before anyone (except for Carley and Clementine) would take any notice. "Lilly's a good friend. She always helped us out and tried to keep things right. I trust her."

"With your life?" Luke asked him.

Lee thought about the younger man's question for a moment. He and Lilly did have problems in the past, especially ever since she shot Ben that caused their relationship to drop. But Lilly was grateful to him when he tried to revive her dad, even after everything he had done to him. Heck, Lilly even saved his life from Andy St. John during the fight at the farm.

He finally answered Luke's question after a moment of silence. "I think so. Yeah, I would."

Luke, along with Nick, shifted their attention back over towards the other dinner bench table where Lilly looked somewhat sad as she looked down towards her dinner. He turned back towards Lee before she would notice him keep constantly looking over his shoulder towards her. "Walt was telling me her dad died."

"That's horrible." Sarah who was sitting in between Alvin and Carley admitted, unable to imagine what it would be like if she lost her dad now that he was her only family left.

"It's true." Clementine sighed, remembering back to that day in the meat locker when Larry had passed out from a heart attack after getting himself too angry, followed by when Kenny had dropped a salt lick on his head without hesitation, crushing his entire skull.

"Thing like that can hit someone pretty hard." Luke told them, knowing what it was like to lose someone you care for, especially when he lost his parents.

"She lost her whole family?" Alvin asked. "Damn."

"She did the best she could." Lee assured, but knew one-hundred percent fact that ever since the events that day, Lee was not the same as she as before and was truly devastated by it.

"I'm sure she did." Luke replied, turning away for a moment to keep everyone from noticing his sad expression.

"It was hard on everyone." Carley added.

"I bet." Luke agreed with her.

Before long, Carlos was the first to finish his dinner and stood up to excuse himself from dinner. On the other dinner table, Lilly and Walter had finished their dinner too and stood out from the dinner table, and both of them made their way over towards the kitchen.

Now that the conversation about Lilly was over, Luke changed the subject to a more important and pressing member that involved every member of their group. "So, Lee, where were you, Carley, and Clementine heading before you met up with us?"

Since they were now an official part of their group and there was no avoiding the question, Lee finally decided to inform them of their destination. He turned towards Carley and Clementine for support, and got a supportive nod from Clementine but got a mere shrug from Carley."

"Well, me, Carley and Clementine were heading somewhere up north." Lee answered. "You ever heard of a place called Wellington?"

"Wellington?" Luke repeated, not being familiar with this name in his entire life. "The hell is that?"

"A place." Lee simply answered, not giving much detail about his destination he just mentioned.

"What kind of place?" Luke inquired.

"It's suppose to be a big camp up near Michigan." Lee added.

"Michigan?" Nick repeated.

"Yeah, Michigan. Fresh Water, lots of land, and winters, so the walkers get slow." Lee explained,

"Sounds like bullshit." Nick admitted, suspecting this place sounded too good to be true.

Lee frowned slightly, beginning to get angry with Nick's attitude, but he kept himself calm after remembering he still needed to be there for Nick like Pete had requested, and had to keep himself from getting angry to not cause any trouble and help further improve their relationship. "Well, that's just your opinion, Nick, but we're heading there, like it or not."

"Well that would be just fine by me." Nick agreed.

Before long, Walter decided to request a little favor from Clementine for a moment. "Hey, uh Lee, do you mind if I take Clementine to lend me a hand outside for a moment?"

"Sure." Lee agreed, being able to tell this man was kind and would not do anything to risk them getting in trouble.

Clementine agreed and stood up and followed Walter to the exit of the ski lodge. The duo made their way towards the exit of the ski lodge, but what Clementine did not know is that Walter had no favor at all, and merely wanted to speak with her.

* * *

Walter escorted Clementine outside of the ski lodge. He looked back at Clementine while they were walking slowly around the ski lodge. "I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to speak with you about Lilly for a moment.

"Okay." Clementine skeptically trailed off. "What about Lilly?"

"Let me explain: relationships are like any machine: You don't throw them out when they break down." Walter explained, speaking in a kind yet smart language to Clementine. "You get your hands dirty and you grease the wheels. What do you say? Will you help me work on them? I really do want both of "

"We're going to leave in the morning." Clementine admitted, hoping it would not upset the older man.

"No, no. You gotta stay." Walter replied, not wanting his new friends to go back out there in this God-forsaken world.

"We have to keep moving." Clementine told him, but was unable to tell him the reason why.

"Clementine, in this world you don't "have" to do anything." Walter assured, another attempt to convince her and her friends to stay. "They say the world is over, but I'll tell you a secret: it's not. People are now more political now than they ever were before. In the end, we can't change the world. All we can do is continued to learn from each other; to empathize and use our heads. "

Clementine had no idea what he was talking

""All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal." Steinbeck. Have you read him?" Walter inquired, but his happy expression changed when he noticed Clementine had a confused expression. "Well, we have plenty of time to catch you up on your reading. My partner Matthew is amassing quite the literature collection. I think you'll like him."

"In any case the point is: as long as we have our wits about us, we can always make the right choice. Right?" Walter asked, placing both of his hands to his hips. He paused for a moment when noticing Clementine with her head lowered down sheepish, looking worried about something.

"Right." Clementine agreed.

"What's the matter, Clementine? Is there something you want to tell me?" Walter inquired, being able to tell there was something wrong by the expression on her face. He knelt down to her in a friendly manner to make her feel more comfortable. "You can talk to me, Clem. There's almost nothing you could tell me that would surprise me. I can promise you that."

"I'm worried about your friend." Clementine answered, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

"Don't worry, Matthew will be back soon and everything will be fine." Walter reassured, standing back up to full height as he beckoned for her to follow him. "Now, let's go and check out the windows while we're here before that storm hits."

The duo walked around the side of the ski lodge to check the boarded-up windows. However, as they go there, they spotted someone looking through one of their windows. Walter did not seem affected by her skeptically, and greeted her in a friendly matter. "Miss?"

The woman leaned up and jumped in fear when she noticed the two. She looked around in her middle twenties, she had long red hair that was tied back, she wore a long green t-shit with a brownish hunting vest, and to top it off, she wore blue jeans with brown boots.

She moved her eyeballs up for a moment, and pleaded towards them both in a worried matter. "Please. Do you have any food?"

"Are you okay?" Walter inquired, immediately believing her lie.

"I saw the house, and...I have a family. We're starving." she explained, gesturing her left arm back towards the way she came from. "We live down there."

"Of course. Why don't you come in, miss..." he paused as he did not yet know her name.

"Bonnie." Bonnie introduced herself, keeping her sad expression across her face.

"Walt, I'm not so sure." Clementine told him. "You just going to let in a stranger like that?"

"Its fine, Clementine." Walter assured him. "We just have to get to know her, right? How much damage can this poor woman do?"

"I don't think she can hurt anyone." Clementine admitted, and this caused Bonnie to smile for a moment.

"Thank you both, really, but that storm will be on us soon and I got to get back to my family." Bonnie replied, appreciating all they were doing for her even though they had only just met seconds ago.

"I'll bring something out to you then." Walter offered.

"You don't have to do that." Bonnie declined, not wanting to seem too rude and take whatever they had. "What about your people?"

"No, no, it's fine. " Walter assured her, taking a couple of steps back to go and get some supplies for her. "We've got plenty. You stay put. I'll be right back."

Clementine remained silent as she dared not to take their eyes off from her, fearing she might try something. Clementine had to admit she suspected she could be working for Carver, but then again, why would Carver send only one person out here?"

"I have a little girl like you." Bonnie spoke up, raising a smile as Clementine folded her arms together. She leaned down slightly with her hands placed to her knees. "How old are you, sweetie?"

"I'm eleven." Clementine answered, somehow being able to keep track of time.

"I would have thought older than that." Bonnie admitted, leaning back up to full height when Walter had returned, carrying a box full of food in his hands

"Here you are, miss." Walter smiled, handing the box of food over to her.

"This is too much." Bonnie said, feeling the weight as she accepted the box into both of her hands, but at the same time, feeling a little guiltily for taking so much. "I don't really know how to thank you."

"Don't mention it." Walter assured, only asking for one favour in return. "Just help someone else down the line."

"Thank you so much." Bonnie thanked, smiling as she thought it was time to leave now. "I'll be going now."

"You stay safe." Walter told her.

"You too." Bonnie agreed.

Before long, Bonnie had eventually left them and took the supplies back down the hill for her family she claimed to have. Clementine and Walter began to make their way back towards the ski lodge. Clementine hoped Walter had not just mad a mistake by handing out their supplies to a complete stranger.

* * *

A short while after their Christmas dinner, mostly everyone had tucked in for the night to get some sleep. The former cabin group would need it if they were to keep moving before Carver had the chance to catch up to them if he truly was following them.

Downstairs, Lee was making his way towards the stairs, but he froze for a moment and was startled by a voice that called out to him. "Lee."

Lee turned towards one of the support beams in the ski lodge to see it was Luke who had called out to him, and by the looks of it, he was hiding from something or someone. "Don't freak out." he said, beckoning for Lee to come over towards his position.

"Luke, what the hell are you doing back there?" Lee inquired whilst marching his way towards the younger man.

"Lee, I got to tell you something." Luke whispered, holding up a photo frame for him to accept. "The guy on the bridge who Nick shot was Walter's friend."

Lee accepted the photo frame and his eyes widened when seeing a photo of Walter and Matthew standing together with Walter placing his hand on his shoulder. Now they were doomed, especially if Walter found out. "Oh, shit!"

"See I knew something was off, so I asked Sarita about their friend. Now they're all worried he's not back yet." Luke explained.

"I already figured it out." Lee replied, knowing something was wrong when seeing the same food cans as before in the station. "For sure."

"Dammit...Dammit, Nick." Luke silently cursed under his breath. He knew there was going to be fallout if things get any more worse than they need to be. "I don't think Walter knows yet. So we have to keep this quiet. I mean, who knows what the hell he's do if he found out."

"Shit, man, I don't know." Lee admitted, crossing his arms together for a moment to think this through. "I think we should just tell him."

"He's gonna ask who did it. And you're gonna tell him?" Luke asked.

"It's the right thing to do." Lee told him, not wanting to keep anymore lies than he had to in the past.

"It's right to get Nick killed?" Luke clashed, the worse thoughts of his best friend dying raced around his mind if Walter was to find out. "Because that's what gonna happen."

"You don't know that." Lee replied.

"Still, I don't want to take any chances." Luke admitted, but knew there was more than they needed to do in order to keep Walter from finding out the truth. "Now, do you still have that knife you found in the station? Because if it was Matthew's and Walter sees it, he's gonna put two and two together."

Lee placed his hand into his back-pocket for a moment, but discovered he was not it his possession. "Oh, damn. I gave it to Clementine before we headed up here. It must be in her backpack."

"Okay, well, go get rid of it. And I'll find Walter and run interference." Luke planned out, but did have another request they for him too. "Oh, and, uh...keep an eye out for Nick."

At bad timing, Nick had emerged out of nowhere and began making his way over to the duo, and he saw the picture of Matthew and Walter, then there was definitely going to be chaos. "I'm right here. What's up?"

Luke quickly attempted to think of an excuse for mentioning his name while Lee stood beside him, hiding the photo frame behind his back. "Oh, uh, it's nothing, man. I just wanted to check and see if you're okay."

"You coming to tuck me in?" Nick joked with a grin across his face, and this was the first time see him smile since the death of his uncle.

"Yeah," Luke chuckled. "yeah something like that."

"We have to tell you something." Lee told Nick, unable to hold in the truth from Nick since he was a manger part of this whole incident.

"What is it?" Nick inquired, noticing the worried expressions across their faces. "Hey, if there's something going on, I want to know..."

"Nah, just...go back to bed, Nick." Luke requested.

"I'm serious. You guys can talk to me." Nick assured them, wanting to prove to the duo that he can be trustworthy.

"I know." Luke agreed, but this was technically a lie when looking back to the stupid things Nick did in the past.

"What, you don't trust me now?" Nick asked them, suspecting lack of trust due to him almost shooting Lee when they first met, and the whole incident on the bridge.

Lee held his head down for a moment, followed by a regretful and concerned sigh. He removed his hand from behind his back and offered the photo frame towards Nick.

Nick accepted the photo frame into his hand, puzzled to why he handed him a photo. His eyes widened when they met the photo inside the frame, and it was now all coming together for him. "Oh Jesus. Oh God!"

"Goddammit..." Luke sighed, getting the reaction from Nick like he suspected would happen. "Hey, Nick, shut the fuck up."

"I can't, guys. I can't." Nick refused, unable to live with the guilt of killing Walter's partner.

"Do not fucking blow it." Luke told him, sensing he was about to scream out the truth the second he saw Walter.

"Blow it?" Nick repeated, a sad and regretful expression across his face as he was shocked to what his best friend had just told him. "It's over. I have to tell him, Luke."

Luke felt like he was going to exploded if Nick was being serious about telling Walter the truth. He placed his hands to his head for a moment, at the same time, trying to convince Nick to change his mind. "What? No! You...hey Nick, you cannot do that? Are you fucking nuts?"

Lee remained silent for a moment as both men continuing arguing with one and other. He sighed and lowered his head down, feeling somewhat stupid for telling Nick the truth about Matthew.

"I got to. I can't live with that on me." Nick explained, the whole bridge incident raced around his mind again like it was haunting him.

"Okay, I hear you, but...I mean, fuck, man, do you know what's he's gonna do?" Luke inquired, only being able to imagine the worse thoughts in his mind.

"You don't know he'll do anything." Nick clashed, trying to look at the good side of this whole situation.

"Are you kidding me? Nick, you SHOT his friend." Luke reminded him, unable to know anyone who would not want vengeance for someone killing their friend.

Lee finally spoke up after he had been a silent while they were arguing, and could only think of one way to make this whole situation right. "Nick, I think you should tell him."

"Yeah. Yeah." Nick agreed, taking note of what the older man had just told him.

"Nick, I am warning you, this is fucking suicide." Luke warned.

"I'll live with it." Nick assured, but deep down, he was extremely worried to what was going to happen when Walter reacts to his partner's death.

"Jesus Christ." Luke sighed, realizing he was out of options to convince Nick to change his mind.

"Jesus. I can't handle this." Nick admitted, turning around and marching away from the duo.

Luke sighed as he prepared to follow him and attempt to talk some more sense into him, but for now, he still had that little task for Lee to be getting on with. "Lee, just...go do that thing. All right?" he finished his sentence and began following Nick through the ski lodge.

The second they were gone, Lee did not hesitate to waste any time and quickly ran towards the exit of the ski lodge where the other weapons were present. He quickly jumped down to Clementine's backpack that was unzipped for some reason, and dug his hand inside, but was shocked to see the knife was not inside. "Shit, it's gone!"

Lee stood back up full height whilst trying to figure what he was going to do next. Maybe Walter did not find the knife and Clementine merely misplaced it, or better yet, she never took it with her in the first place. He shifted his attention over towards the doors when he noticed Walter standing just outside, messing around with Matthew's knife. Now there was officially no going back.

Lee, knowing he had to do something now before it was too late, made his way outside of the ski lodge, slowly opening the glass door. When he was outside, Lee stood only a few feet behind the older man, not daring to say anything that may get him angry.

Silence seemed to fill the air for a moment or so, the wind whistled the the wind turbine spun gracefully. Lee finally spoke up after a moment of silence, hoping he could reason with him before things got out of hand. "Hey Walt...You okay...? You mind putting that knife down...?"

"...I always like this knife." Walter admitted, twirling the knife around in both of his hands whilst holding a smoked cigarette in the corner of his mouth. He pulled the knife out from it's casting, leaning down against the wooden railing. "Gave it to Matthew when all this started...I know he's dead."

"Shit!" Lee silently muttered to himself, turning away for a moment when knowing Walter knew the truth.

"Who did it?" Walter asked him, keeping his eyes focused into the distance of the woods. "Was it that kid? What's his name...Nick? I heard him talking earlier. Something about shooting a man...I could see it...I could see it on his face. Wasn't sure now, but now..." he fell silent, unsure if he could continuing speaking.

Lee knew there was no purpose in telling any lies to him and had no choice but to confess the truth of what happened to Matthew on the bridge. "...I'm not going to lie to you, Walter. It was us, Nick shot him...He didn't mean too, though, I swear..."

Walter's expression changed into a shocked one when hearing the confession from Lee. He struggled to get his words out while he took another drag of his cigarette to help calm his nerves. "Jesus. I...I don't feel good." he took another drag from his cigarette when he felt tears were beginning to fill up in his eyes. "Lee...Is...Is Nick a good man?"

His expression changed into a slightly angered one as he turned around to face Lee for a moment. "Or is he just like everyone else? Is he just one of those...those fuckers that don't give a shit about anyone but themselves?"

Lee thought about his question for a moment, obviously knowing his answer could effect Nick's relationship with Walter, and possibly Nick's fate. He had to admit Nick has done some stupid decisions in his life, but he was a good man and his heart was in the right place whenever trying to help his friends and family. "He is. He is a good man, Walter...He just makes stupid mistakes sometimes."

Walter took note of what he just told him, knowing Lee was telling him the truth. He continued smoking for a moment, unsure of what to do next.

The door to the ski lodge has opened a second time, revealing it to be Nick. His expression soon changed into a shocked one when seeing Walter, and with the knife in his hands, that told him everything he needed to know.

"He was always going out alone. I told him something like this would happen." Walter admitted, leaving the duo unsure if he was speaking to them or to himself. But he wouldn't listen. No, Matt always knew best."

"What's going on?" Nick asked Lee in a whispering tone, a hint of worry in his voice.

"You need to tell him what happened, Nick." Lee suggested.

"Tell him what?" Nick inquired, pretending like he did not know anything at all.

"You know what." Lee clashed, being able to tell he was trying to talk himself out of it, but was no use now that he told Walter everything. "What happened on the bridge."

Walter disposed of his cigarette turned around fully when seeing Nick had arrived, his expression as angry as it could get. This world is hell. People like Matthew aren't coming back. This is IT. And now he's GONE. What did you do? Did you hurt him? Hm? Did you hurt Matthew?"

"From a distance it looked like anyone." Nick explained, raising his hands in the air slightly just in case Walter did anything regrettable with his knife. "I...I thought he was going to shoot my friends. And I...I shot Matthew. But it happened real fast. I didn't, I didn't know if I hit him. But I did, and...I didn't mean to."

Walter was shocked and devastated by all this news that he just had to take in regarding the truth of his partner. "Do you know what you've done to me? Do you have any idea?"

"I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Walter." Nick apologized, showing his full honesty that he did not mean to kill Matthew, and would go back in time if he could take it back and prevent his death.

Walter did not respond further and merely stroked his fingers against Matthew's knife. Deep down, he wanted nothing more than to make Nick pay for his actions, but he couldn't. He would never forgive him for what he did. Without saying anything further, Walter tossed the knife away in a random direction, followed by him turning around with his eyes closed, silently mourning the loss of his partner.

Before heading back inside, Lee and Nick shifted their attention towards the wind turbine, and noticed it began to spin faster than usual from the storm, causing it to make a loud noise.

The duo merely watched as they stood outside of the ski lodge when everyone except for Sarah, Rebecca, and Alvin had ran outside, coming to either investigate the noise form the wind turbine or to see what Lee, Nick and Walter were doing outside.

"Walter, what's going on?" Lilly inquired.

"Lee, what you three doing out here?" Carley asked him, placing both of her hands into her pockets.

Lilly shifted his attention towards the wind turbine and panicked when hearing it's loud noise and realizing it was going to attract unwanted attention. "It's out of control. That sound's going to draw walkers. We got to shut it down, now!"

Carlos nodded as he turned his attention to Nick, needing some assistance. "Nick, help me carry the guns."

"Guns?!" Sarita repeated, not liking this idea as she merely watched them both head inside to fetch the weapons.

Lee shifted his attention over towards Walter, who did not seem to bothered about the current situation. He kept his eyes closed whilst keeping his back turned from everyone else. He felt sympathy for him, of course, but there were bigger problems right now.

Carley and Clementine merely watched as Carlos and Nick ran as fast as they could to fetch the guns, and it only took them a matter of seconds to return. Carley accepted her Glock 17 that Nick gave back to her, knowing they were going to need her and her good aim as a marksman.

"Lee, catch." Carlos told him, tossing over a Winchester Model 17 that they were obviously going to need.

Lee caught the rifle in his hands but shifted his attention back over towards Clementine, knowing this was going to be dangerous. "Clem, I need you to stay inside with Sarah, Rebecca and Alvin."

"I can do it." Clementine assured, moving her hand into her pocket for a moment and handed him something. "Here, take my lighter. You mind need it."

"Thanks, sweat pea." he thanked, raising a smile for a moment but it soon dropped when he needed to join the others. "Okay, let's get moving!"

Lilly caught the Winchester Model 17 that Nick threw to her, preparing to head out there as soon as possible. "That thing's gonna attract walkers! Let's go!"

Everyone was armed with a weapon and made their way over to the wind turbine, except for Walter who decided to guard the ski lodge. Each of them were armed with different types of various weapons such as: Glock 17 Winchester Model 17, Beretta 92FS Inox, and one machete.

The group turned their attention towards the same direction when they heard something break, or worse, exploded.

"What the hell was that?" Luke inquired, looking off into a random direction where he suspected the noise had came from.

Lilly looked back towards the ski lodge and noticed the lights had been turned off, meaning the power was now gone. "Shit! Transformers must have gone. I need to check it. But I could use a hand."

"I'll go with you." Luke offered.

"Me, too" Sarita said.

"No. Two of us are enough. Everyone else needs to stay here and defend this place!" Lilly ordered replied, not wanting to risk anyone else getting hurt or killed for that matter. She turned back over to the others and gave them their orders. "Rest of you, get this thing shut down."

As Lilly and Luke departed, Sarita opened up the power box to the wind turbine. The remaining people watched as they could see nothing but darkness in the inside of the box, unsure of what to do next. "Does anyone know how to do this?" Carlos asked, only to shrugs from everyone in response. "Dammit."

"I can do it." Lee assured, taking out the lighter that Clementine had lent him.

"We'll watch your back." Carlos assured, raising his weapon up as he turned towards the others. "Nick, Carley, scan the trees with me."

While the others defended Lee, he turned on the lighter to see inside the power box better. He spotted the red button that must be the one to turn off the wind turbine.

"Dammit. It's too dark." Carlos admitted, just about able to see anything around the area. "We have to shut this thing down."

Lee grabbed the key from the hook inside and placed it inside the red button, followed by turning it and pushing the button.

The wind turbine slowly came to a halt, and the remaining group all looked up towards it, praying they shut it off in time before they attracted any walkers.

"Something ain't right." Nick admitted.

"Yeah." Carlos agreed.

"I don't see..." Carley trailed off as she looked into the distance, and spotted some familiar faces. "Fuck!...Company!"

Out from the woods, snarling and growling could be heard from a distance. The group watched in shock as walkers emerged from the trees; making their way over to the wind turbine. This sure was not going to end well for them.

"We don't have much ammunition." Carlos declared, raising his pistol up.

"We got to get back to the lodge." Nick suggested, realizing they were outnumbered. He quickly turned around when he heard footsteps from behind them. "They're behind us!"

The group stayed in a circle as they began to fire their weapons in different directions, shooting whatever walkers they could see in their sights. They would have to make their weapons last, otherwise they would be using them as melee weapons.

Lee turned back towards the ski lodge and panicked when two walkers were heading towards him. He aimed at the closest walker and did not hesitate to fire. The first shot he fired in between his eyes, and the second shot he fired hit the walker in the forehead

"Fuck." he cursed as he ran over towards the ski lodge, looking back over his shoulder to see Nick firing at a walker before running away. He aimed his weapon a second time when seeing at least six walkers making his way over towards him, looking for a fresh tasty meal.

He fired his remaining bullets at the six walkers, managing to kill five in the process. He attempted to fire more and finish off the last walker, but discovered his gun did not fire and rather clicked. He took a couple of steps back as the walker moved in on him.

A gunshot was suddenly fired, followed by the closet walker collapsing to the ground with a sickening thud. Lee looked back to meet his savior from death who was no other than Carlos.

"Run! Go!" Carlos ordered, suddenly jumped back when he felt a walker had grabbed onto him from behind. He narrowly cheated death and shot it, and quickly ran away before anymore of them go the jump on him, shooting a walker before leaving. "Keep moving, get to the lodge!"

Lee was about to follow him, but froze in his steps when seeing a walker had emerged from behind a bulldozer. He did not have time to wait, and without thinking, he charged towards the walker and shoved it out of it's way, knocking it to the ground. He continued charging towards the ski lodge, but froze in her tracks when he spotted Nick fighting with a walker, struggling to hold it back as he held both of it's hands to keep it from biting him. "Nick!"

"Please help me!" Nick begged, unable to told the attacking walker back any longer.

Lee was about to charge over and assist him, but his eyes met the entrance to the ski lodge when he spotted Walter merely staring towards Nick. He aimed up his Glock 17 towards Nick, but hesitated for a moment as he tried to decide if he should save him or not.

Lee could only watch and pray that Walter would not wait too long and let the walker bite him, or shoot Nick in revenge for killing his partner. A few seconds passed, and all of a sudden, the walker moved in on Nick, taking a bite from his neck. He clutched his Nick as he collapsed to the ground.

"Nick!" Lee yelled, shocked to what he had just happened. He ran towards the other members of the group and by the looks on his face, he was angry.

Carlos turned his attention towards them for a moment when noticing there was someone missing. "Where's Nick!"

"You motherfucker!" Lee yelled, punching Walter directly in his face, blacking one of his eyes in the process.

"Lee, get inside! Protect the others! Go!" Carlos ordered after seeing more walkers were approaching them in the distance. He, Carley and Walter were the only one's with examination left, and they all fired their remaining bullets towards the order of walkers.

Lee was about to leave, but remembered Carley was still out there and turned back to get her. "Carley, come on!"

"Lee, don't worry about me!" Carley assured him when he was about to run back and get her. "Go!"

Lee hesitated for a moment, but remembered he had no choice than to get back inside since he was out of ammunition, and ran back into the ski lodge. When he was inside, the ski lodge was now dark without any power, making it a little difficult to see in. He ran up towards the small living room where Clementine, Alvin, Rebecca, and Sarah were watching from the inside.

Clementine ran towards her guardian and hugged him, glad that he was okay and was not hurt. "Lee!"

"Lee! Are you okay?" Rebecca inquired with a hint of worry in her voice.

Before Lee had the chance to answer her question, gunfire was heard back outside, but it did not sound like any of the guns they owned. Instead, they all sounded like automatic rifles being fired.

"What the hell...?" Alvin wondered, running towards the window to investigate what was happening.

Lee Clementine also quickly ran towards the window to see what was going on outside.

All of the attacking walkers fell down one by one as the automatic gunfire continued to fill the air. Near the ski lodge, Carlos suddenly turned around when a walker almost sneaked behind him again, but before he could fire, someone else had beaten him to it.

The last walker collapsed, and out from the woods, four figures emerged from the woods, marching their way over to the ski lodge. Three of them were carrying Ak-47's, but the leader of the group was unarmed.

Carlos gasped slightly to see it was William Carver, who approached the group with his men following behind. Carver grinned as his soldiers surrounded the remaining group, who could not fight them without ammo, and Carlos could not take them all on with his pistol. "Howdy, folks.

The three of Carver's soldiers surrounded Carlos, Walter, Matthew, Sarita, Luke, and Pete in a circle.

Three of Carver's men did not look familiar to them. All Except for one of them, that is, whom Walter immediately recognized the second his eyes met her.

"Where's Rebecca?" Carver asked Carlos.

"Carver...!" Rebecca gasped, watching the entire thing through the window.

Carlos did not reveal her location, and instead, he spat in his face, refusing to cooperate.

"It's nice to see you, too." Carver sarcastically replied, wiping the spit off from his face. He curled his hand into a fist seconds later, and hit Carlos directly in his face, almost knocking him down.

"Dad!" Sarah panicked, immediately running towards the exit of the ski lodge.

"Sarah!" Rebecca gasped, but was not able to do anything to stop her.

"Sarah, stop!" Lee ordered, but he was not quick enough to catch up when she was already gone.

Sarah ran outside of the ski lodge, completely ignoring the danger ahead. She embraced her father in hug, and he returned to his daughter. She hid from Carver as her father kept his arm around her in a protective manner

Carver looked towards the ski lodge where Sarah had run out from and pointed his finger towards it. "Inside."

As Carver's people moved everyone inside, Walter turned towards the other soldier and was shocked to see it was someone he knew. "It's you."

Bonnie showed a sad and regretful expression on her face for a moment, but she quickly shrugged it off before any of them noticed. "Keep moving."

Inside the ski lodge, Clementine, Alvin and Rebecca slowly began to make their way upstairs. Lee gasped for a moment when Carver had made his way inside, and hid behind a couch for cover.

Bonnie whistled as she observed the inside of the ski lodge while everyone else escorted the prisoners over to the end of the room. "Look at this place."

Near the other side of the room, Alvin, whom was standing at the bottom of the stairs, gave a little signal for Lee to keep an eye on the man with the beanie hat since he was heading her way. He nodded and carefully leaned up over the couch, keeping an eye on the man he needed to spy on.

"You believe this fucking place, Bonnie?" he admitted, scanning the around the area for the rest of them. "Power and everything. A lot of windows, though. It's fucking huge. Bill's going to hate it. The rest of them could be anywhere."

While he was not looking, Alvin beckoned for Lee to make her way over here now that he had the chance. Lee quickly sneaked over towards Alvin while the man was not looking his way.

"How we going to cover these guys and look for them too?" Johnny asked, turning towards his people for a moment.

"Johnny, cover that window. " Bonnie ordered them, turning her back to Walter when he looked her way.

Back upstairs, Lee Clementine,Rebecca and Alvin kept crouched down as they silently discussed a plan. Lee peaked her head up just for a moment to see all of his friends were being forced down onto their knees, sitting in a row with their hands tied behind their backs. All except for Carlos that is. He watched in shock as Carley had also been captured, and he prayed they would not hurt her.

Now that everyone was secured, Carver carefully scanned the area for Rebecca, her being the only reason he was here. He marched back over to Carlos and grabbed him by his hair, throwing him into the middle of the room. He hit him in his stomach that knocked Carlos down onto his knees.

"Dad!" Sarah gasped, unable to do anything to assist her father.

"Listen, I'm only going to ask you once. Where's Rebecca?" Carver asked, watching as Carlos coughed a couple of times while struggling to catch his breath back.

Carlos still refused to cooperate on what he wanted to know, and looked towards his daughter, whom he could tell was dramatized by all this. "Sarah, look at me. It's going to be okay."

Carver pulled Carlos up by grabbing his hair again, and grabbed his right hand and bent his middle finger back in the quick of a flash, pulling out completely out of place. Carlos screamed in agony as he collapsed to the ground.

"Rebecca? Rebecca, our baby deserves to be raised in a place of safety." Carver called out to her as he knew she was hiding her somewhere. "I know you're out there, Rebecca. And Alvin. And Luke. And the guy. And the girl. This is real simple. You want this over quick; you all play nice and show your faces."

"Don't hurt my dad! Please!" Sarah begged, crying tears out from her eyes.

Despite Alvin being shocked by the news about the baby, he ignored it for now and got back to the situation at hand. "He'll kill him."

"No, Alvin." Rebecca replied, already knowing what he was going to do just by looking into his eyes.

"We got to go down there." Alvin suggested, showing a worried expression across his face.

"I can't do that." Rebecca refused, fearing that he would kill her husband without mercy.

"Bec...the baby...you need a doctor." Alvin reminded, needing Carlos to help deliver to the baby when it was time.

"No. Where is Luke and Lilly?" Rebecca asked, only just realizing those two were not amongst the prisoners downstairs.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Alvin replied.

"They're still outside." Rebecca reminded, realizing they were their only hope to get out of this. "They can help us."

"We have to help Carlos." Clementine admitted.

"She's right." Lee agreed, unable to imagine what was going to happen if they did not do something soon.

"Only way to help him is to do what the man says." Alvin explained.

"What about Luke and Lilly?" Rebecca asked, repeating her same suggestion again.

"Look at those guns." Alvin told her, noticing their automatic rifles made them powerful and dangerous to take head-on. "We start shooting and people are going to do, on both sides.

Carver grabbed another one of Carlos' fingers and without hesitation; he broke it back out of place, merely watching as Carlos cried out in agony. "ARRRRGG!"

"DAD!" Sarah cried out, not being able to watch her father suffer like this.

"Lee, Clem can sneak out. Find Luke." Rebecca suggested, noticing the nearby open window that looked big enough for Clementine to squeeze through.

"What the hell's she going to do?" Alvin asked, unsure if Clementine could assist them much due to her being only a little girl. "And you heard him. Carver knows she and Lee are with us."

"Just stop!" Sarah begged, but her pleas were no use. "Don't hurt my dad. Please."

Alvin was unable to watch his friend suffer anymore. "We're going down there."

"He'll kill you." Rebecca said, knowing how cruel Carver would be.

"Look, guys-" Lee was cut off by the sounds of Carlos' screams.

"Fuck you." Carlos swore, practically begging for anyone out there to just kill him and end this tyranny. "Shoot him! Somebody just shoot hi-"

Carver grabbed the back of Carlos' hair and pulled him back while he held his knife against his neck, preparing to end this unless Rebecca came out.

Rebecca turned her attention back towards Clementine, needing her to get Luke and Lilly right now! "Clem, go get help."

"He'll kill him, Bec!" Alvin argued.

"He'll do it anyway!" Rebecca clashed, thinking there was nothing they could do now to help him.

"You don't know that." Alvin countered.

"Say goodbye, Carlos." Carver said, preparing to slice his throat upon so he would suffer before dying.

"Don't look, sweetie." Carlos told his daughter, not wanting her to witness what was going to happen next. "Don't look."

"Dad!" Sarah stuttered slightly as she could not take her eyes away no matter how hard she tried.

Clementine looked back at both Rebecca and Alvin while they were arguing about what to do. She had to get help; otherwise Lilly and Luke might return and run into a trap. "I'll find Luke and Lilly. Stay here."

"Alright, Clem..." Lee sighed, knowing it was their only option to seek help. "Go, but be careful."

"Goddammit." Alvin sighed, fearing they had just made a huge mistake.

Carver pulled Carlos back further as he did not yet kill him, but that did not mean he was going to spare him. "You never listen." he mumbled.

Lee opened up a small window for Clementine to go through and although he did not want her to go out there on her own, he decided to help out the best he could. "Hurry Clem."

"Let's see if I can get your attention." Carver said, beginning to torture Carlos further until he coaxed Rebecca out of hiding.

Clementine jumped down out from the window and quietly began to make her way around the cabin. She peaked through one of the boarded up windows and cringed as she witnessed Carver hitting Carlos and hearing Sarah sob in sadness.

She leaned back up and carefully made her way around the ski lodge. She leaned around the corner of the building and was relived to see Lilly in some kind of booth, aiming her rifle towards the ski lodge window. Luke, however, was not present with her.

"Clementine!" Lilly called to her in a yelling whisper.

Clementine began to make her way over to her but suddenly froze when she could see the man known as Johnny had walked over to the large windows, and she quickly reacted by leaning back as much as she could.

Fortunately, he did not see her and turned back around from the window, and began complaining about the weather instead. "Goddamn it's dark. I can't see a fucking thing."

Clementine finally made it to the other side of the ski lodge, and looked back for a moment when she heard Carlos crying out in pain as Carver continued to torture him more. She quickly ran over towards Lilly, who stood up for a moment to greet her. "You alright, Clementine?"

"Where's Luke?" Clementine inquired, noticing he was not here or anywhere to be seen.

"I don't know." Lilly admitted, getting back into his sniping position. "We got separated on our way to the transformer. I thought he would be with you guys."

The two looked back over into the ski lodge when Carlos' screaming had stopped. Did Carver finally put him out of his misery? They looked inside to see Lee, Rebecca and Alvin had finally surrounded themselves to Carver, unable to be responsible for Carlos' suffering any longer.

Carver shoved Carlos to the ground and raised a grin when Rebecca had arrived, and placed his hand against her cheek.

"Fuck you, Bill!" Rebecca swore at him.

"Looks like they got everyone." Lilly admitted, stating the obvious whilst trying to figure out a plan here. "Clem, who are these people?" she aimed down her rifle, aiming at the man with the beanie hat. "I think I can shoot that one, if he just moves a little more to the left."

"I don't know. Maybe we should find Luke." Clementine suggested.

"There's no time." Lilly clashed, staring down the barrel of her rifle, preparing to open fire on them. She pulled the trigger, and with good aim, she hit Johnny directly in his forehead. "I got him."

Inside the ski lodge, Sarah screamed when hearing the gunshot, and their enemies watched in shook for a moment when seeing one of their own die. In anger, Carver marched his way over to their group of hostages and forced Walter up onto his feet, placing his arm around his neck and forcing him over towards the window.

He shoved Walter to the floor and pulled out his python, preparing to murder him. Walter, knowing it was his end, eyed the photo frame near him that was a picture of him and Matthew together long ago. He leaned up for a moment, but collapsed onto the ground when Carver had shot him directly in the back of his skull, avenging him for the death of his soldier.

"No!" Carlos screamed.

"Walter!" Lilly gasped, shocked to what she had just done that caused the death of the man who helped her survive. She growled and aimed her gun a second time, but was unable to get Carver in her sights.

Carver took cover behind one of the wooden support beams with his python holstered, calling out to Lilly as he prepared to fire just in case. "That's for our man. Now, I didn't want to do this, but you ain't leaving me much choice. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to march another one of your friends out here and I'm going to put a bullet in the back of their head. Or you can give up now. Your choice."

The only response Carver got was another shot from Lilly that hit the wooden support beam he was taking cover behind.

"Bastard!" Lilly growled, cocking her rifle back and firing another shot that hit the same support beam again.

Carver merely flinched a little in response as he made his way over to the other prisoners, preparing to take one more of them hostage in an attempt to coax them out from hiding.

Clementine realized she was not going to be able to get another shot from his position, and she spotted another covering position they could use. "Lilly, over there!"

The two ran over to where Clementine was pointing and jumped into the small circle that was surrounded by a metal fence for cover.

"Hi, Alvin." Carver greeted, forcing Alvin to stand onto his feet as he marched him over towards the window.

"Bill, no!" Rebecca begged, attempting to stop him from using her husband as a hostage, but was held back by Troy. "Tell her to stop. Lilly, stop!"

"Alvin!" Clementine gasped, seeing Carver force Alvin over towards the window where Johnny had been shot; unaware that Lilly had changed her sniper position.

"Dammit. It's a tough shot." Lilly admitted, trying to get a good aim on him without hitting Alvin. She asked Clementine for advice since she was quite smart in situations like this. "What do you think?...CLEMENTINE? I think I got a shot!"

"Shoot!" Clementine ordered, suspecting this may be their only hope to save everyone, especially Lee.

Lilly closed her eye and fired a single shot, and as luck would have it, she managed to hit Carver, and he collapsed down onto the ground. There was silence for a moment as the prisoners merely watched while Bonnie and Troy watched in shock of their leader's possible death. All of a sudden, Carver's eyes had widened open and he stood back up, holding his free hand against his right should where Lilly had managed to hit him.

Lilly panicked when she saw him stand back up and attempted to finish him off, but her gun did not fire. She quickly tried to reload before Carver took anyone else hostage that may cost her dearly.

Carver clutched his shoulder and without hesitation, he fired his python, hitting Alvin directly in his forehead. His expression did not show any remorse for killing him, and instead, he marched back over towards the prisoners to continue his work.

"NO! ALVIN!" Rebecca screamed, crying heavily as she fell down onto her knees.

"Alvin!" Carlos gasped, unable to imagine how Rebecca was feeling right now. "Rebecca. Don't look. Just don't look, Rebecca...Oh my God. Oh my God."

The next victim to be taken hostage was Carley. Carver forced her up and marched her over towards the window now that he knew where Lilly was hiding.

"Don't you fucking touch her!" Lee shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to get up and attack him, but Bonnie forced him back down.

Carver stopped when he was close enough to the window, and held Carley at gunpoint. "I can keep this up all night!"

Lilly's expression changed when seeing Carver had taken Carley hostage, and for the sake of Lee, she finally decided it was time to give up, realizing there was nothing more she could do to have them. She had only just earned Lee's trust back, and to get responsible for Carley's death may break that trust forever.

"We're coming out!" she declared, tossing his rifle aside and moving out from her sniper position.

The duo surrounded and walked towards the ski lodge entrance where Bonnie was waiting for them. She kicked the door opened and aimed her AK-47 at them. "Let's go."

Clementine and Lilly were tied up and forced down onto their knees with the rest of the group. Now that they were captured and were unable to do anything, Carver was still smart enough to notice someone was missing.

"Where's Luke?" Carver inquired, pacing up and down with his hands placed to his hips. He did not get an answer from anyone, and assumed he had run away. "Finally cut and run, huh? Why am I not surprised? I warned you. I wanted you not to follow him. And look where he has led you. ..But you're safe now. We're going home. As a family." he continued speaking whilst marching towards Rebecca whom was still crying over the death of her husband.

Carver walked over to the exit of the ski lodge while the remaining survivors gazed upon. He ordered his people to take them with him. "Alright. Round them up. We're heading back to camp."

Each of the prisoners were forced onto their feet, one-by-one whilst being held at gun point. Lee was the last one to still be there. He watched in sadness for a moment before Bonnie forced him onto his feet, placing him with the others as they began escort everyone back to their camp.

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**The end of Episode 2. I apologize if this was a little late, I got busy, but I'm back now and Episode 3 will be here very, very soon. Nick and Alvin are dead, and the rest of their group are being forced back to Carver's community. Stay tuned for the next chapter.**

**Assassin's Creed Master out. **


	10. Chapter 10: Carver's community

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 10: Carver's community**

**Here's the chapter all of you have been waiting for. Once I finish this Episode, I will not be writing until Episode 4 has been released, and I do have a Grand Theft Auto story to write as well. Just to let you know. Also, on Episode 2, I was mostly following the dialogue from Episode 2, but this time, I will be making my own dialogue to make the story look different. Oh, and be sure to vote on my poll, sometime. **

**Anyway, I've talked a lot. Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Carver and his remaining henchman had taken their captured prisoners back down the hill to a storage truck they had driven here in. They loaded their prisoners into the back with their hands bind together and began to drive back to this community of Carvers. Inside, everyone was in silent with sad expressions across their faces from the many friends they had just lost. First, Nick was killed by a walker, Alvin was shot by Carver, and Walter was executed by Carver.

Everyone was silent until Lilly had finally decided to speak up with a determined expression across her face. "Are we all just going to sit here and let them take us?"

"Well what can we do?" Lee inquired while he was seated in between Carley and Clementine. "They took all of our weapons and were locked in the back of this fucking truck. You expect us to break out of here."

"No, I just don't expect us to sit here and do nothing." Lilly replied, standing up and proceeding over towards the front of the truck where the cab was on the other side.

"Lilly, sit down!" Carlos demanded, but his words did not get through to here.

Lilly angrily hanged her hands against the cab of the truck, screaming as loud as she could to get their attention. "Hey! Let us out of here! HEY!"

"Shut the fuck up in there!" one of Carver's henchmen-Troy-had ordered.

"Lilly, just sit down!" Rebecca told her. "You already cost us two of our people, I'm pretty sure none of us want to lose anyone else."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lilly asked while she sat back down where she was sitting before.

"Because of you, we lost Alvin and Walter." Carley reminded her, an angry expression rose across her face when she blamed most of this on Lilly.

"What did you just say?" Lilly inquired, wanting to make sure what she just heard out of her old friend was correct. "How is this my fault? If you're group never came to our ski lodge, then maybe that Carver bastard wouldn't have taken us."

"Because of you Walter and Alvin are dead!" Carlos scolded her. "You shot one of his own henchmen which resulted in him killing Walter, and then you shot Carver when he was clearly holding Alvin as a hostage! You must learn that regardless of intent, there are consequences to rash actions. It is something that you don't seem to be misreading as capitulation."

Clementine, whom had been keeping silent during their argument, decides to speak up and defend Lilly from their judgment. "No, it wasn't Lilly's fault. It was mine. I told her to shoot."

Lilly was surprised that Clementine, the young girl that once feared her, would have the nerve to defend her from the rest of them. But she did have it in her heart to have the blame on a little girl she use to take care of back at the Motor-Inn. "No, Clementine, it wasn't your fault. I was the one who pulled the trigger, and that makes my responsible."

Clementine merely nodded in response as she sat in between her adoptive parents.

Lilly shifted her attention back towards Carlos, and had no idea what he meant by all that fancy talk, but she felt really annoyed that they would all dare put the blame on her. "Now as for you, Carlos, excuse me for trying to save my people. Maybe next time I will just leave and run away, just like you're friend Luke did."

"What?" Carlos was in denial on what she just said. "Luke ran away?"

Lilly was about to answer with a lie, but decided that was not the right thing to do at this moment. She leaned back against the cold metal wall of the truck and sighed. "No...We got separated on our way to the transformer by walkers. I don't know what happened to him, Carlos."

"I don't think Luke was ever one to run." Lee admitted; although he had only known them for a short time, he could tell Luke was no cowered and would never abandon his friends. "Who knows? Maybe he's following us as we speak."

"He does remember where this community is, right?" Carley asked Carlos when she assumed he was the leader of their group.

"Yes, of course he does." Carlos assured. "Luke is very familiar with these woods and knows his way around. If he is still alive, he should be able to find us. But until then, we need to be careful."

"This Carver guy, why are all of your scared of him, so much?" Lee inquired. "He just seems like another random bandit to me."

Carlos was too surprised to what Lee had just told him and wanted to yell at him, but that would do good, and he would not exactly be able to defend himself with his broken fingers if Lee were to attack him. He was aware that they were new to his group and had yet to tell them about Carver. "You have no idea what he's like. William Carver is a very dangerous man, Lee; you have no idea what you're dealing with. He's smart, he has an army..."

"And he wants to punish us for leaving." Rebecca added, her being the most worried one due to the possible fact of her baby being Carver's as well as her own. "He's worse than the walkers."

Lee still did not see why they feared him so much compared to what was out there nowadays. He would have to wait and see, but in the meantime, he tried to assure them everything would be fine. "Look, guys, before we met you, me, Carley, Clementine, Lilly, and a few others saw things you wouldn't imagine. Walkers always tried to get us, these cannibals took us to their farm and cut off our friend's legs and tried to feed them to us, our home was attacked by bandits, and we've avoided death more times than we could remember."

"Maybe, but you had weapons then, did you not?" Carlos inquired.

"Not all the time, sometimes I had to rely on my own strength like when I had to fight one of the cannibals at the farm." Lee admitted, but he still had the courage to prepare for whatever Carver had to offer. "Look, obviously he wants us alive otherwise he could have just killed us there and then. We go in there, observe the place, and then get the fuck out of there. You guys escaped once, right?"

"Yes, but Carver more than likely sealed off the areas we got out last time." Carlos admitted as he turned towards his daughter, whom was crying in sadness and was being comforted by Rebecca. "We will just have to wait."

The truck they were in had suddenly been brought to a complete halt, and Troy could be heard complaining in the cab of the truck they were inside. "_Fucking brakes ain't working again!_"

"_I swear to God, if you've broke my door...!_" Carver warned.

A couple of moments later when the truck had been halted to a complete stop, followed by the back door of the truck opening. Standing outside were Bonnie, Troy, and another one of Carver's men: an African-American woman was quite fat for her size and looked around in her middle thirties, she had an afro with a headband around her forehead, she wore a dark yellow and brown jacket with blue jeans, and like her allies, she was armed with an AK-47. "Alright, up and at 'em."

None of them wanted to cause any trouble for now, at least, and obeyed her request. Everyone followed the guest through the community while Carver was in his office, making an announcement via the speakers through the entire building.

"_We've got some familiar faces back with us tonight. Now, I understand some of you are confused as to why we'd bring these people back when they left us as they did._"

"I think I have got pretty good fucking idea." Rebecca admitted.

"_It might not come all at once...but the time will heal these wounds...so be patient with them until it does...and take solace in knowing that they're here to help us make our home a better place._"

Everyone was now in a huge area that had more guards patrolling the area, and at the side on some shelves were stock foods. Lee and a couple of others looked above where they could see Carver in the manager's office through the window, speaking into a microphone.

"_All these feelings you have of anger...betrayal...hate...they're all valid. No-one needs to forget what they did...but we have to find it in our hearts to forgive them._"

"I can't believe how much food they have..." Clementine admitted, staring over at the food beside her.

"Just keep walking, Clementine." Lee instructed as he stood behind her.

"_As many of you already know...a large herd of lurkers gathers just south of us..._"

Troy shifted his attention over towards Carlos and moved towards him when he needed a favor from him. "Come on, doc, we need you for something."

"Why can't it wait until morning, Troy?" Carlos asked, he was too tired from all the walking and after he was brutally beaten by Carver, and to top it off, he had no use of his two fingers at the moment. Another reason for his excuse was he did not wish to leave Sarah on her own, especially in this place. "We're all exhausted."

"Just fucking come on, would ya?" Troy demanded.

Sarah began to panic and stopped when seeing her dad being separated from her, fearing she could not survive here without him to protect her. "No, please! I need my daddy. I can't...He...he looks after me."

Troy did not care to her sudden plea like the cold-hearted man he was, and instead, he nodded his head in the direction to where everyone else in their group was.

Carley placed her tied-together hands upon Sarah's shoulder and escorted her away, acting somewhat of a motherly-figure to her. "Come on, Sarah, it's okay. We need to go."

"But my dad..." Sarah panicked.

"He'll be back." Clementine assured to her new best friend,

"When?" Sarah inquired.

"I don't know. But he will come back." Clementine reassured her.

Sarah was still nervous to be here without her father, but she was grateful that she had a friend like Clementine to take care of her; despite the fact Clementine was way younger.

"_And with the added manpower joining us this evening I have no doubt that we will continue to..._"

Bonnie knelt down to a security shutter that would lead them into an area called "the yard" where Carver sounds those who need to work their way back into this community. She unlocked them with the keys. Although Bonnie was their enemy, she did give them a little friendly warning that they may want to take into consideration. "Make sure y'all stay off the fence. Bill can see if you're messing with it."

Clementine turned around for a moment and looked behind Troy to see Carver watching them in the manager's office while continuing his announcement. She was soon turned around by Lee and escorted into the yard. "Come on, Clementine."

"_It's no longer enough to survive...it is our obligation to make this community a beacon of _hope...To provide a light...a bright light. Bright enough to shine all this darkness. So that is we'll do." Carver finished his announcement and turned off the speakers.

Once the remaining survivors were inside the yard, a few of them began to observe the place to see it was the only way out was via the security shutters, the fences that were boarded-up with barbwire tied on the top, there were chairs stacked in circle near a fire to keep them warm, and bunk beds for them to sleep on. It did not look like the greatest place for them to be sleeping in, but it was better than being out there with the walkers.

"I suggest that ya'll best get some rest, because there ain't going to be much rest for none of you tomorrow." Troy suggested as Bonnie who was standing beside him untied everyone's restraints. "You're going to be working your assess off."

"Rebecca, that bed's for you." Bonnie said while gesturing her hand over towards the most comfortable bed in the area they were in.

"Yeah, of course it would be." Rebecca admitted, folding her arms together as she eyed the bed she was going to be sleeping on. "Fucking Bill. I'm carrying his child and he decides to keep me out in the cold, but at least I'll be on a comfortable bed."

"Hey, guys."

Rebecca shifted her attention to the familiar voice and was unable to imagine if her eyes were playing tricks on her when seeing someone she could have sworn was dead. "Reggie? I thought you were..."

Rajeev-better known as Reggie from his friends-was a man around in his middle thirties, his ethnicity was Pakistan-American, he had black hair all around the back and sides of his head, but the top of his head was bold, and he had short black facial hairs, he wore a light blue shirt with a beige hunting vest over it and dark navy jeans. And to everyone's shock, his left arm was missing, possible amputated from being bitten by a walker or it could have been as punishment for what he did in the past.

Rebecca moved closer to him and embraced him in the hug to, and he returned it with his one arm. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. What did Carver do to you...?" she noticed his missing arm and could only presume it was Carver who did this too him. "I can't believe..."

"Trust me; this could have been a LOT worse. I thought I was done for, but I'm lucky to be alive." Reggie admitted, not seeming too affected about his one arm. "I suppose I should say it's nice to see you all. But, uh, yeah...That's all I can say, really." he rubbed his neck with his one hand.

Not too far from where the rest of the group was, Lee and Carley were standing together and listening to the conversation between this Reggie person. Clementine and Sarah were doing the same, but they stood a couple of feet away from the adults.

"Reggie helped us." Sarah declared. "When we ran away, he helped us escape this place. I wish he could have come with us though."

Clementine started towards the new man and could not help but stare at his amputated arm. She never seen anyone with a missing part of their body, and it kind of crept her out. "What happened to his arm, Sarah?"

"I don't know." Sarah admitted, she could have sworn he had both arms the last time she saw him. "When we were running out together, He fell...And everybody else kept running. I know he had both his arms then. He might have lost it."

Clementine stared at her with a puzzled expression for a moment. How on Earth can you lose an arm?

Lee, Carley, and Clementine continued to listen in on Reggie whom was now explaining to his friends the story about his arm and why he had to have it amputated. "I was working outside, one day, and a Lurker snuck up on me while I was hammering something down. Luckily someone I worked with took the arm off quick enough. It saved my life." he was able to raise a slight smile across his face.

"That's awful...I'm so sorry." Rebecca apologized for a second time.

"Look, don't worry about it, it was my choice, and my choice only to help you guys." Reggie reassured them, not wanting any of them to feel guilty for the loss of his arms.

"Hey! Reggie!" Troy had finally spoken up after he had Bonnie had been silent while they guarded the area.

"Oh...Troy, what's up?" Reggie nervously inquired, still having a great fear of him due to the fact he was so eager to get back into Carver's group officially, but with his friends returning, that may make it a little difficult.

"Don't go fucking up now while these new people are here!" Troy warned in a harsh tone. "You know Bill's real close to letting you back into the ground. Tell you what, if you make sure things stay nice and quiet out here tonight, I'll be sure to let Bill know just how helpful you were and that you are useful."

A smile raised on Reggie's face when he realized that having his friends back might be his perfect opportunity into getting back into the group officially. "Oh, yeah, don't worry about a thing, you can count on me. Thanks, Troy."

"Don't mention it." Troy requested, turning around and marching his way out of the yard. Bonnie followed in suite like they were soldiers and the two exited the area together, locking the security shutters behind them.

After they were gone, Rebecca shifted his attention to the others whom had been silent since they arrived here, and she decided it was time to introduce her new friend to her old friend. "Oh, right. Reggie, let me introduce you to our new friends. We were with them when we got caught."

Reggie walked a little closer towards the new faces and introduced himself kindly. "Hey there, my name's Reggie."

"That's Sarita." Rebecca introduced him to Sarita, who had been quiet during their arrival.

"Hello." Sarita quickly greeted in return.

"That's Lilly."

"Hi." Lilly greeted as she folded her arms together with a normal expression across her face.

"That's Lee."

"Hey." Lee greeted, offering a handshake to the new face to which Reggie returned in a friendly matter, and Lee was even able to raise a smile across his face.

"And that's Carley." Rebecca finished.

"Hi." Carley smiled, placing both of her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

Reggie shifted his attention over towards the right side of Lee to see the young girl with a hat. He had yet to meet her. "Hello there! Who are you then?" he noticed her staring towards where his arm use to be. "The arm freaks you out, huh?"

"Clem, you know it's not nice not to stare." Lee requested in a kind tone, not wanting to make her first impression seem rude.

"No, don't worry. It's okay, Lee." Reggie assured. "It sometimes freaks me out, too"

Clementine could tell this man was nice just be looking at him, and felt comfortable enough to introduce herself towards him. After all, everyone else did. "I'm Clementine."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Clementine." Reggie replied, offering her a handshake with his one hand, and Clementine gladly accepted. He let go of her hand and noticed a few members of their group was unaccounted for. "Where's Carlos?"

"Bill's already got him treating some folks." Rebecca answered.

"Oh...okay. Good." Reggie smiled. "What about Pete? And Nick? Alvin?"

He could tell be their expressions that the many names he had just mentioned had passed on. Reggie felt saddened by the news he had just taken in and wished he did not ask. "I'm so sorry. Pete was a good man. Nick, well, I expected this to happen after he reckless he was, but he was still a good person. Alvin was a great guy, too. I'm sorry, guys."

"Can you guys save it for the morning?" a grumpy voice on the other side of the room requested.

Everyone shifted their attention over towards the location of where the voice had come from to see an African-American man in his middle twenties with a close shave haircut and a slight back beard, wearing a grey hoodie and blue jeans. And despite their distance from him, some of them could see he was missing a chuck out of his left ear. "Some of us got to be up early." he told them.

"Sorry!" Lee apologized in a loud enough tone for him to hear.

"Sorry about that, Mike." Reggie also apologized to the man, who had now turned his back on them and placed his pillow over his head in an attempt to block out their voices.

Reggie shifted his attention back towards the others. "That's Mike. I won't lie, he's kind of a dick when he's tired, but... he was the one who saved my life, so...I put up with that shit. Bill put him together with me to work outside the wall with me."

"Reggie, I'm so sorry." Rebecca apologized yet again, still feeling that the entire incident was partial her fault.

Clementine folded her arms together while everyone else continued speaking with Reggie. She shifted her attention over to the other side of the room where a woman was sitting on a wooden bench table, merely staring at them. She looked Caucasian-American; she looked to be either in her late teenage years to middle twenties. She had extremely short hair with dirt smeared across her face, and she wore a yellow jacket with bluish jeans.

"Please, guys, stop with all the sorry." Reggie requested. "It was my choice to help, remember? Besides, he said once you were all caught, he'd let me rejoin the group, so...I'm glad you're here. I'm just joking. I mean, I am glad, but...I'm sure you guys didn't want to be brought back here."

"I know what you mean, Reggie." Rebecca replied, relieved that her old friend still had some of his previous humor left in him.

"I mean, he did say that...but, I'm not happy about it." Reggie admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with his one hand for a moment. "It's probably bullshit...But I got to take my chances if I want to get back into his group."

"Reggie, I don't see why you want to get back in his group." Carley admitted as she took her hands out from her pockets. "This place is a prison. And Carver's crazy."

"Prison?" Reggie chuckled. "This place is not prison."

"I know it seems like a prison, but this is place isn't that bad." Reggie assured.

Clementine continued to stare at the girl for a moment, feeling slightly uncomfortable with her constant staring. "Who's she?" she inquired towards Reggie.

"Who's who?" Reggie shifted his attention over towards the opposite side of the room to see who she was referring too. "The girl over there."

The unnamed girl got out of the bench table and made her way over to her bed to get some sleep for the night.

"Oh, yeah, her, right." Reggie now knew whom she was referring too and shifted his attention back towards Clementine. "Okay, so she's fucking weird. They found her sneaking around outside of the camp covered in guts and just, like the grossest stuff. Her name's Jane, I think."

"It's probably best not to stare." Rebecca told Clementine, who continued staring at the unnamed woman.

"I know how it must look to every one of you, but...I assured you, it's really not that bad here." Reggie assured them with a supportive grin across his face.

"Reggie." Rebecca sighed.

"No, I'm serious." Reggie reassured them. "Where else are you going to find food like we have? Where else can you find safety like we have? The community is getting more and more secure all the time. They even got the solar panels working...When was the last time you had electricity, huh?

That was not a hard question to answer, and Sarah was the one to speak up. "Well, we were just in a ski lodge with a wind turbine. It had electricity and food."

"Alright, point taken, but It's not a competition." Reggie replied, still trying to convince them that this community was a gift for them all. "I'm just saying, it's not as bad as you think. We're making something great here, guys. It's a real community. Bill, Tavia, Troy, and others are making it happen."

Lee and Clementine turned towards each other for a moment, both of them giving a look as they were saying "Is this guy out of his mind?"

"Carver killed our friend Walter." Clementine spoke up.

Reggie's face has changed into a sadly and somewhat shocked expression, leaving him silent for a few seconds. "Okay, I that does sound shocking, but...maybe Bill had his reasons-"

"Had his reasons? Are you serious? He fucking kidnapped us and is holding us here against like prisoners!" Lee shouted, curling his hand into a fist as he wanted to punch this man, but was held back by Carley and Clementine

"He's a crazy piece of shit that deserves to die!" Lilly judged him.

"Listen, guys, I am extremely close to getting let back into the group. If that does happen, I can do a lot more to help you guys be more comfortable here." Reggie reassured them, but deep down, he feared that these new people were going to ruin his chances of being out of this yard any time soon. "I've worked extremely hard to get to this point. Will you please just behave and try not to cause any trouble? Until they release me, at least? Then once I'm out, I could help you more. Maybe even help get you out."

Lee did not wish to get Reggie in trouble, despite the fact he did want to be in Carver's group, but there was a chance he could just be scared. "Alright, we won't get you in trouble, but that doesn't mean we won't force ourselves to like it here."

"Thanks, guys." Reggie thanked. "I am glad to hear you say that. I was worried for a moment."

"Well, if Carver's such a "great guy," I'm sure you got nothing to worry about." Lilly replied as she placed a hand to her hip.

"We can at least talk about it more in the morning. Just have a quiet night and chat again tomorrow." Reggie suggested.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing." Rebecca admitted, shocked and surprised to what her old friend was saying. "Reggie, that motherfucker killed Alvin, my husband! And you think I want to stay here?"

"Rebecca, please, if you work with me here, Carver can give us all a second chance." Reggie explained, but his words did not seem to convince them.

"Reggie...I don't want a second chance." Rebecca told him, wanting nothing more than to get out of here with her friend. "I want to leave with my family. That's it." She gasped when she felt her baby kick harder than usual and she placed both of her hands against his stomach. "I need to sit down."

"Your family is safe here, Rebecca." Reggie assured. "Going out there is suicide. It's better to stay here."

Sarita walked over towards Rebecca to help her sit down before she got even more pains in her stomach. "Come on, Rebecca. Sarah, can you go see if there's something for her to drink?"

"Okay." Sarah agreed.

"There's water over by the benches." Reggie assured, watching as the trio walked over to the other side of the room. "That didn't go as planned...should have actually made a plan."

Most of them group made their way to the small pit in the middle of the yard with chairs lined-up in a circle with a fire in the middle.

Lee merely glared at him and folded his arms together, shocked about man hearing all the stuff he spoke about this place being great. "Man... I don't think know if we can trust him. I don't know what he's been drinking, but everything he just said is a lie.

"I think he's just scared." Clementine admitted.

"Everybody's scared, Clementine." Lee reminded her. "It don't think that is an excuse to sound like a crazy man. We got to take a look around." Lee began walking off into a random direction.

Clementine caught up to him as he walked off into another part of the room. As for Carley, she stayed with the rest of the group around the pit.

"We got to know if there's anything we use to get out of here." Lee told Clementine, wanting to get a move on to find an escape plan. "We're in a bad place. We got to find something to get us out of here."

"Well...what should we look for?" Clementine inquired, stopping at the same time Lee had stopped.

Lee turned back towards the shutters and was able to take note of there being no guard outside. The only thing they had to worry about now was Reggie. "That Troy bastard is gone for now. This is our chance. Look around and see if you can find something to get us out of here. I will distract Reggie."

The first thing she decided to do during her investigation was speak to that Mike guy who had requested to be asleep for the night. She approached him and attempted to greet him. "Hello?"

The man did lean his head up for a moment, but his tone did not sound so charming. "Get lost."

"Will you please talk to me?"

"No. Get out of here."

"I just need-"

"Go!"

She gave up on him and approached Jane who had been staring at them earlier, and she was now lying on the ground with her head rested against her arm. Why would she sleep there when there are clearly multiple bunk beds for them to sleep on? The girl had suddenly leaned her head up and glared towards Clementine, startling her that caused her to jump in fear. Clementine backed away from her and allowed her to sleep peacefully.

Clementine continued her investigation while her guardian distracted Reggie from her. Hopefully that could get out of here as soon as possible. Who knows what Carver has planned for them, but one thing's for certain is that it would not end well.

* * *

**And chapter 10 has been completed, folks. Everyone is now locked away in the yard without any means of escape whatsoever. They have met Reggie whom seems different and wants to stay in this community. Let us hope it will soon be time for them to band together to escape this place. Any questions: be sure to let me know in Private Messaging. **


	11. Chapter 11: put to work

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 11: put to work  
**

**Hello, everyone, I got news that Episode 4: Amid the Ruins should be released somewhat in July. I sure wonder what will happen to Sarita, Rebecca, Sarah, regarding their fates. Let us hope it will be a great episode. Before you read, here's the choices I made in 400 days that may effect the story later on.**

**Vince's story, Day 2: I saved Justin and killed Danny.**

**Wyatt's story, Day 41: I stayed in the car and left Eddie behind**

**Russell's**** story, Day 184: I left Nate.**

**Bonnie's story, Day 220: I lied to Leland and got him to come with Bonnie, and Bonnie was the one to leave him afterwards.**

**Shels story, Day 236 and 259: I did not vote on Roberto's fate which resulted in Roman voting for me and killing Roberto and I left in the RV.**

**Epilogue****, Day 400: I got everyone to join Tavia's group.**

* * *

While Lee was making conversation with Reggie to distract him, Clementine proceeded to speak to her best friend Sarah, whom had been sitting quietly the entire time they were in now. She looked worried, possibly due to her father not being with her at the moment.

"I'm trying to be good." Sarah admitted when she noticed Clementine had arrived.

"What?" Clementine inquired.

"Reggie asked me to be good, so I'm being good. I don't want to get him in trouble." Sarah explained, but that was hardly a reason to be quiet and not speak to anyone. "I'll talk to you later."

Sitting right next to Sarah, Rebecca and Carley were discussing about Alvin and how he much she missed him. She continued talking when noticing Clementine had arrived to check up on her.

"I didn't treat Alvin very well these last few weeks...Things go so complicated so fast..." Rebecca continued speaking; now speaking to both Carley and Clementine. "It became all about getting through each day..." she silently prayed to herself that Alvin would come back to her, safe and sound. "I'm trying real hard to remember the last time I told him that I loved him...I've been racking my brain...but I just can't remember..."

Clementine was unsure if Rebecca was going to be able to continue after losing her husband. Clementine knew it was her job at the moment to help comfort Rebecca. It is what Alvin would have wanted. "He's watching over you, so he sees you now and knows how you feel about him."

"I hope that's true. I miss him so much." Rebecca admitted, appreciating everything Clementine had done for her, despite the fact she was just a little girl. "All right, you can get going now, Clementine. I'll be fine. I appreciate you checking up on me. Thank you."

Clementine left Rebecca alone and proceeded to continue investigating the area, but she was unable to find anything useful. She even did a double-check around the place, but there was nothing they could use to escape. The only way in and out was the security shutters. She walked back over towards Lee, whom had just finished distracting Reggie.

Lee knelt down to Clementine's height level, anxious to know if she had found a way out of here. "Find anything to help us, Clementine."

"Not really." Clementine answered in a sad tone.

"Shit...I was hoping you would catch something useful." Lee admitted as he stood back up to full height.

The security shutters had opened again from the opposite side, and to everyone's relief, it was a familiar face that had turned up safe and sound: Carlos. He was being escorted inside by Troy.

Sarah cried with enthusiasm when seeing her father and ran over towards him. "Dad!"

Carlos embraced his daughter in hug; feeling so relieved to see her safe and continued to hold his only bit of family left in his arms.

"All of you go the fuck to sleep. I'm going to start shooting the first one of y'all I see wandering around before it's time to get up." Troy ordered in a harsh yet serious tone. He proceeded back outside the yard and closed the security shutters behind him. "Everybody get the fuck to bed!"

No-one wanted to get themselves into trouble and face the consequences, and made their way over towards the bunk beds (Rebecca on the comfortable bed in the corner) to get as much sleep as they could for the morning. Although there were a couple of extra beds, Lee and Carley decided to share one together.

Lee turned to his left where he saw his adoptive daughter sleeping in the next bed beside him on the ground, and could not help but worry for her safety. Walkers were one thing that you could just run away from, but being trapped in a place with people loaded with automatic rifles seemed twice as worse. "Hey...Clementine. You think you're going to be okay?"

"...I...I don't know, Lee." Clementine admitted, lying on her side with her head tucked in her arms.

"We will get out of here, Clem. I promise." Lee promised, raising a slight smile across his face. "You trust me, right?"

"Of course I trust you, Lee." Clementine assured, wondering why her guardian would ever say that to her. She trusted him with her life.

"All right. Let's get some sleep for the night, Clementine." Lee bidden her farewell as he tried to get comfortable on this bed. He knew for a fact that tomorrow was going to be a tough day for each and every one of them. They needed to get out of here as soon as possible. For now, it was best to do what Carver says until they can get out of here, that is.

* * *

The next morning, Lee had woken up in a groaning tone when he felt someone nudge him in the stomach. He opened his eyes fully and cleared out his blurry vision to see it was Troy, one of Carver's most trusted guards. "Was it necessary to kick me?" Lee inquired.

"Just get the fuck up." Troy ordered in a normal tone for once. "Bill's going to have a word with y'all."

Lee wanted nothing more than to just punch this man and take his weapon and shoot his way out of here, but he knew that would be nothing but suicide. He obeyed and got out from his bunk bed and proceeded over towards the center of the yard where everyone else was. Carver was also present with Tavia, Troy and Hank guarding the area. He was currently giving a little speech towards each and every one of them. "There's been increased walker activity along the fence so be mindful when outside the walls. The herd's moved a little closer as of this morning, but that doesn't necessarily mean we'll be hit. Know we're monitoring the situation. Now...There are some folks might be sore about what happened...at how things went. Well, that's all in the past now...Some of you are new to our community. Some of you are members who went astray. But know that you can redemption here...Forgiveness...By proving your worth through what will undoubtedly be hard work."

Carver shifted his attention over towards Reggie, who did not dare do anything or say anything to ruin his chances of being let back into the group. "Reggie, you're nearly back in." Carver told him, and this caused him to smile for a moment. "Keep following the path, and we'll welcome you back with open arms."

"How'd you sleep?" Sarah, who was standing in between Carley and Clementine, asked Clementine in a low voice, but that was not quite enough to keep Carver from hearing. He was unsure of who said it exactly, but continued speaking nevertheless. "I couldn't sleep all that good, last night. It was just so hard, you know."

"HEY!" Carver shouted, and this caused a couple of them to jump in fear. He marched in between the group who stood out the way for him to go through, and had his attention focused on the three girls. "I heard one of you talking. Don't you know it's not nice to talk over other people? Now, I want to know which one of you did it, and if you don't tell me, things will have to get ugly."

Sarah was in extremely fear of what Carver was going to do to her for speaking. She sure did regret speaking over him now. She nervously rubbed her hand over her arm and was about to speak up. "It was-"

"Okay, you caught me." Carley had suddenly spoken up over her and took the blame for the young girl. "It was me. I am sorry."

Carver growled silently under his breath as he caught Lee in the corner of his eye preparing to do something if he dared hurt Carley. He raised his hand up and Lee only assumed he was going to slap her, but instead, he placed his hand upon her shoulder. "Now, I would normally punish someone for stepping out of line, but since you're new here, I will make an exception this once."

Carley merely glared towards him in response as she folded her arms together. She turned towards Sarah just for a second and winked towards her. Sarah was certainly shocked by this. No-one who was not a part of her family had never taken a blame for her like that. She would certainly not get herself into trouble again, and was extremely grateful for Carley's help.

"Now, each of you has different assignments this morning." Carver continued as he marched back towards the front of the yard. "It's time to get to work. Lee and Mike, you two are with Troy outside. Carley, you're going to be working in the cafeteria with a couple others. Clementine, you're with Bonnie in the armory. Carlos, you're working on some of the injured this morning, Hank will take you there. Lilly, Sarah, Sarita, you three are going to help Reggie. As for you, Rebecca, we need to talk in my office. Any questions?"

No-one replied.

"Excellent." Carver grinned. "Now all of you know your duties. Get to work. The sooner you prove your loyalty to me, the sooner you can all be out the yard. Dismissed."

Everyone proceeded to their jobs like he demanded. Each of them followed the guards they were assigned, too and were unwillingly ready to work for the day. Before Lee followed Troy outside, he patted Clementine's hat a couple of times, assuring her that it would be fine. "Good luck, Clem. Just do what they say, okay?"

"Okay." she nodded.

"All right, I'll see you later." Lee said as he followed Mike and Troy out of the yard. He sure hoped Clementine would be okay on her own here. She was not like other girls, of course, and was smarter than the average kid, but it still did not mean she would be safe in this place. Thank the Lord she was not going to work with Carve or Troy.

Clementine was about to walk outside but suddenly froze a bag of soil had dropped only a couple of feet away from her. That could have hit her if she was a little more to the left. She looked up to the roof where Jane looked down to investigate the dropped soil. "Oh, shit." Jane cursed.

"Clementine, let's go!" Tavia ordered, causing Clementine to run towards her in fear of getting herself in trouble.

* * *

It was going to be a while before everyone in their group was reunited with each other, and for now, they were going to have to work their fingers off to the bone to prevent themselves from getting in trouble. Carley, who had been sent to work on her own with strangers, had eventually arrived to the cafeteria while being escorted by one of Carver's guards. She was surprised to see the guard escorting her was just a kid.

He looked around his late teens to his early twenties, his ethnicity looked to be African-American, he had short black hair, he wore a blue hoodie with blackish jeans, and carried an AK-47 was his main weapon like most of the guards did in this community. "You should get work." he suggested to Carley. "Bill doesn't like idle hands."

Carley did not respond and entered the cafeteria while the kid stood outside the guard. She was inside the huge cafeteria area to see she was working with two other people.

The woman looked around in her early twenties, her ethnicity seemed to be Caucasian-American, she had dark brown hair tied in a ponytail; she wore a blue jacket with dark bluish jeans.

The younger girl looked Caucasian-American, she looked around the same age as Sarah, she had medium sized dark brown long hair, and she wore a light brown long sleeve shirt and grey pants.

The older woman noticed Carley and beckoned for her to come over. "Hey there, you must be one of the new comers."

"More like new prisoner." Carley thought to herself while proceeding over to the two girls in the kitchen area. "Hi, I'm Carley."

"I'm Shel." Shel introduced herself but as for her little sister, she merely stood there with her arms folded. "And this is my sister Becca."

"Nice to meet you." Carley admitted. "So, Carver says I got to work here. What's my job?"

"Simple really, we're just washing dishes and bowls." Shel answered, beckoning for Carley to follow over her towards their work station. "It's simple really. You wash, I'll dry up and Becca puts them away. You actually got one of the easy jobs. Well, I suppose we best get started."

"Alright." Carley folded up her jacket sleeves and moved over towards the bowl that was already full of hot water for her to do the washing up. She got a move on and began washing the dishes, plates, and other kitchen material. She could not remember the last time she did any washing-up in this day and age.

While they were working, Shel decided to make conversation between them both as they continued working. "So how did you get here?"

"If you must know, that Carver was searching for his people and decides to bring us back with him." Carley answered with a hint of anger yet sarcasm in her voice.

"I know how it must feel, but it's really not that bad here." Shel assured as she passed a couple of dishes over to her younger sister. "I know Carver seems intimidating at times, but once you got use to him, and if you say on his good side, you'll see what I mean."

"Uh-Hu." Carley nodded, not seeming too interested to what she just said. "So, what's your story? How did you two end up here?"

"Me and my sister were staying at this gas station with this guy Roman, but after he wanted me to kill someone in our group because she wanted to leave..." Shel trailed off as she closed her eyes for a moment with a sad expression across her face. "...I refused, and Becca and I left. We met up with four other people and stayed at this camp for a while until Tavia arrived and offered us to come here. We wanted somewhere safe, and thought that maybe here was our best bet."

"Sounds like it hasn't been easy for you." Carley admitted.

"Yeah..." Shel agreed, but now she decided it was her turn to ask the questions. "What about you? What's your story?"

"I use to be a news reporter in Macon, but after all this began, I met up with my boyfriend Lee at this drugstore and we all stayed at this Motor Inn for a couple of months, but we had to leave when we were attacked by these bandits." Carley explained, trying to keep her story as short as possible. "We went to Savannah, looking for boats to get us out on the open sea. We found one, but there wasn't enough room for all us, so me, Lee, and Clementine decided to stay behind and make a go of it. We kept moving until we met Carlos and his group. And then, that's pretty much it."

"Sounds like you've been through a lot." Shel admitted. "Well, in any case, you're safe here in this community. And I know Carlos and his group made mistakes, but Carver has forgiven them. He can forgive you, too if you give him the chance."

"We'll see." Carley replied, but deep down, she would never stay here in a million years and wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of Carver's community, Carlos had been put to work in the medical area with another man who knew before. His name was Vince, he looked around his middle thirties, he had longish brown hair with a slight goatee, and his ethnicity looked Asian-American. And to top it off, he wore a red jacket with a white shirt underneath and blackish jeans. He carried a Glock 17 as his main weapon.

Carlos walked inside with Vince guarding the area while he attended to a couple of injured people who had been either shot or injured badly.

Vince could not help but notice his bruised face and his broken fingers wrapped in bandages. "What happened to you, Carlos? You look half-dead."

"If you must know, Carver did this to me." Carlos answered. "He broke my fingers and decided to torture me just to find Rebecca."

Carlos moved towards the nearest person as Vince continued speaking towards him. "Forgive me for saying this, but I think it's good that you and the others are back, Carlos. You're safer in here than you are out there."

"Safe?" Carlos repeated, shocked to what he had just told. "Carver is a very dangerous man, Vince. He just killed two of our own people. And you think staying in here is safe?"

Vince was about to argue with him, but he could not think of anything to say. For now, he changes the subject while he stood guard of the area. "Just get back to work would you, Carlos."

Carlos obeyed his request and continued working on the injured people of this community. He could not wait until it was time to get of this community again, but with him having broken fingers and other injuries, and with Rebecca being pregnant, that was going to make it a challenge.

In yet another area of the community, Lilly, Sarita and Sarah had been escorted by Reggie to the rooftop of the community. Their job was to take some things over to another part of the community, but as for Sarah, she had another job to do. Once Reggie had taken them to the stockroom area, he gestured his one arm to multiple crates stacked-up against the wall for them to carry. "Okay, girls, these are crates full of materials for a couple of people working on the fence outside. Just take all of these to them. Simple."

"What's in these things?" Lilly inquired as she picked up one of the crates that felt somewhat heavy for her to carry.

"Just stuff." Reggie simply answered. "I can't really say. Look, this should maybe take you around fifteen-minutes to half-hour tops. I'm going to go and take Sarah to where she is going to be working. Just exit the door, keep going straight until you find the fire exit and take these to a man named Wyatt working outside. Simple, really?"

"All right, a man named Wyatt." Sarita repeated as she herself picked up one of the crates.

"Okay, come on, Sarah." Reggie said, walking away out of the stockroom with Sarah beside him.

After he was gone, Lilly and Sarita proceeded to get a move on with their jobs and made their way out of the stockroom and kept going straight like Reggie had instructed. Fortunately for them, they were working with Reggie and not one of the bad people here. Neither of them wanted to do this, but it was either do the job or face the consequences. Once they made it to the fire exit, Lilly opened up using her foot due to her hands being full and walked outside. However, she stopped and looked up to see Troy standing guard of the area on top of the roof, looking down on them. "What are you both doing?" he called out.

"We're just taking these materials to someone named Wyatt!" Sarita called in return, wishing he would just let them go already before she lost her grip.

"Alright, exit out that gate. He's working outside!" Troy instructed.

The duo obeyed and made their way down the path and out of the opened gate until they eventually came across a man hammering wood against the windows with a couple of others. The man looked Caucasian-American, he wore glasses and had a brown/yellowish long hair and beard, he looked overweight, he looked around his middle twenties to early thirties, and to top it off, he wore a green jacket with blue jeans.

Lilly was the one to speak up as she approached him with a normal expression across her face. "Are you Wyatt?"

"Yeah, that's me." Wyatt answered as he put his hammer down for a moment to greet them.

"Reggie told us to bring these to you." Sarita declared as she and Lilly set down the crates onto the path, unable to hold them anymore than they needed to.

"Ahh, yeah, thanks dudes." Wyatt thanked, turning around for a moment when he noticed a walker approaching him and the rest of his people. "We got a lurker."

"I got it." one of the guards assured, pulling out a small blade from his belt and patiently waiting for the walker to approach him. When it was in range, he lifted the blade and stabbed the walker directly in its forehead, killing it instantly. He grinned and placed his blade back into his belt, and proceeded to get back to work. "I got it. Everyone get back to work."

Wyatt and the couple of people he was working with continued nailing wood against the windows. Lilly and Sarita made their way back into the building to fetch the rest of the crates for them. The duo knew it was going to be a long day of nothing but hard work for them.

* * *

Back inside the community, the young girl named Clementine had been put to work in the armory with Bonnie. The two were reloading magazines with each other, and even got the chance to bond slightly.

Bonnie had to admit that she did like Clementine as a friend, but did feel somewhat guilty for lying to her when they first met. "I owe you an apology, Clementine...I wasn't truthful when I came across ya'll at the lodge...And I was shown a kindness I never would have expected from a group of strangers...Walter was so kind, and now he and Alvin are dead. I wanted no-one to get hurt. I thought that was the intent. "

"Carver's the one who pulled the trigger." Clementine told her as she continued reloading magazines with bullets. "He's to blame for all this. Walter was a nice man and didn't deserve to die."

"Yeah, but...Well...I don't know." Bonnie admitted. "I thought if I was the one that found everyone, I could control the situation and get everyone back safe without anyone dying.

Clementine stared at her for a moment with a slight sad expression across her face, realizing that Bonnie was not all that bad unlike the many members this community. She still did not trust her after what she did, but was starting to warm up towards her.

"I'm sorry." Bonnie apologized. "Which don't mean much now, but I just want us to be friends and start over."

Clementine did not answer, but Bonnie could tell by her face that she had forgiven her. The two continued the rest of their work until Bonnie had spoken up once again, trying to make conversation and to get to know Clementine a little better. "So, what's your story, Clementine? How long have you known Lee for?"

"It's kind of a long story." Clementine admitted, unsure where to start during the past two-years she spent in this world. "Lee found me when I was alone in my house when all this started. My parents were on vacation and left me with a babysitter. Lee and I were together with Carley, Lilly and a few others. Some of us died and some of us got separated. We went to Savannah to look for a boat and to find my parents, but...Not all of us could fit on. Most of them left, I found my parents as walkers...And Lee, Carley, and me have just been moving ever since."

"Sounds like it ain't been easy for ya, darling." Bonnie admitted, unable to imagine what it was like growing up in this world. She had another question for her, nevertheless, regarding the member of the cabin group who was nowhere to been seen. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to Nick? I noticed he wasn't there when we arrived."

"I don't know. He was out there with Lee and the others when walkers had attacked." Clementine admitted, unsure of her friend's current fate.

"Well, I hope he and Luke are alright." Bonnie hoped, changing the subject once she had another question on her mind. "How was your first night in the yard?"

"You mean my first night in prison?" Clementine queried.

"It ain't a prison." Bonnie quickly responded, hoping to assure Clementine that this community was a great place to be in. "It's more of a...place to rest until it's time to work."

"Didn't they do those in prisons?" Clementine clashed, being able to outsmart Bonnie just with her own words.

"I...probably. I don't know..." Bonnie admitted. "I never been to prison. Don't tell no-one. Trying to keep a tough reputation."

Bonnie picked up another magazine and began reloading it while she and Clementine continued to make conversation between them both. "Did you know I was supposed to when Luke, Carlos and all them left? I was planning on leaving too. When Luke had told me about it, I thought he was crazy. But it's safer here. We got everything."

"They never mentioned you." Clementine admitted.

"Well, I would expect them not to mention me. You don't know me, do ya? What are they going to say?" Bonnie asked Clementine, chuckling slightly during mid-sentence. ""Hey Clem, Bonnie ain't here?"" You wouldn't know what he was talking about."

"I guess so." Clementine admitted. "But I still don't know why you would rather stay here. Nobody's safe here with Carver around."

"You're safe if you stay on his good side." Bonnie countered her sentence with her own.

"Does he even have a good side?" Clementine inquired.

"Clem, ain't easy keeping a group this big fed and protected." Bonnie admitted. "I wouldn't want to be in Carver's shoes. I figure that would make anyone a little stressed. I'm not defending what he did. You should know that I'm alive because of him. That's just a fact, Clementine."

Clementine could not believe what she was hearing. Who in the world would want to stay here with Carver and consider him a good person? "He killed Walter and Alvin!" she reminded.

"Only because Lilly shot Johnny and then shot Carver." Bonnie quickly responded. "Lilly could have killed us all."

"But she didn't." Clementine reminded.

"Bill overreacted. He was in the heat of the moment and he overreacted." Bonnie explained as she picked up more magazines to continue the rest of their work. "Luke had ideas about how things should go, but Bill never agreed...they argued and Rebecca started showing, and that only made things worse...Maybe Luke was right about him...I wish he was here...I just hope he's safe."

A static voice had spoken up on the radio resting on the table they were working at. By the sound of the voice, it sounded like Tavia on the other end. "Hey Bonnie, is Clementine still working in there with you? I need to come get her."

Bonnie picked up the radio and held her finger against the button to communicate. "Yeah, she's here with me. What's the problem?"

"Carver wants her at the greenhouse with Reggie." Tavia answered, but not before she turned off her radio on her end. "Out."

Bonnie noticed a slightly nervous expression across Clementine's face, and assured her that everything was going to be fine. "I'm sure it's fine. Oh, almost forgot. I got something for you."

"You have?" Clementine inquired.

Bonnie got up and proceeded to pick up something on the other end of the room. She returned and held up a small cerulean ski jacket with a rainbow strip around the middle that looked like it would fit her torso size. "This is for you. It's getting a little chilly recently, and I wanted to make sure you stayed warm."

Clementine examined the jacket that she accepted from the older woman. She put the jacket on over herself, and had to admit she did find it to be a little silly, but it sure felt different than wearing the same purple shirt every day. "It's cool. Where did you get it?"

"While no-one was looking, I grabbed it at that ski lodge y'all were staying it." Bonnie answered while she examined the jacket around Clementine. "Looks nice on you. I thought it was cute, but I didn't know what you would think. I got the feeling some folks might be jealous of that cool jacket of yours. Especially your friend Sarah."

The door had opened from the outside, and the duo turned around to see it was Tavia whom had arrived to collect Clementine. She noticed the new jacket across his Clementine and arched an eyebrow. "Oh, there you are. Where did you get the jacket?"

"I found it laying around here and thought it would suite her." Bonnie answered.

"Kind of ugly, isn't it?" Tavia inquired, causing Clementine to frown and cross her arms together.

"Tavia!" Bonnie sighed.

"What?" Tavia replied.

"Never mind. I'll see you later, Clementine." Bonnie bidden the young girl farewell, and proceeded to continue reloading the rest of the magazine clips on her own.

"Come on." Tavia ordered, marching out of the workshop.

"Where are we going?" Clementine inquired.

"Carver wants you to work with Sarah and Reggie in the greenhouse." Tavia answered as they walked up the fire stairs that would take them to the roof. Clementine could only wonder what she would be doing next, but she prayed she didn't have to work with anyone like Troy.

* * *

**Everyone has been put to work for the day in Carver's community. As you can see, I decided to give some of the characters a scene on what they were doing during their time here. I also gave the other 400 days characters more roles since they merely had cameos in the story. Anyway, stay turned for more.**


	12. Chapter 12: Carver's tyranny

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 12: Carver's tyranny**

**Here's the next chapter. That's all I have say, really. Other than the fact I will be changing my profile picture soon.**

* * *

Tavia had escorted Clementine towards a small greenhouse on the roof of their community where plans were growing. Clementine did find it to be impressive that they were able to grow plants still in this day and age. If only this place could be run by a better leader.

"Stay in here. I'm going to go and get Reggie. And don't touch anything at all. " Tavia ordered, leaving the greenhouse and closing the wooden door behind her.

After she was hone, Clementine observed the greenhouse and walked around slightly, but did not touch anything like Tavia ordered. At least she would be working with Reggie. She looked down and noticed Sarah sitting in the corner of the greenhouse, cradling herself in her arms that were around her knees. "Hey..." Clementine greeted. "You okay?"

"...Carley stood up for me, Clementine." Sarah replied, feeling somewhat guilty that Carley could have been hurt because of her, or worse. "...I wish I hadn't talked."

"Carley wanted help you, she did this to help you. She's not mad." Clementine assured. "Don't worry; Carley's a lot tougher than she looks. I've known her for a while now, and Carley has been like the big sister I never had. And I'm sure she treats you as family, too."

"Thanks...Clem...You're right." Sarah thanked, happy that she had a friend like Clementine to help her like they shared a sisterly-bond. "I just always wonder why people have to be so mean. "I got mad sometimes, but I don't want to hurt anyone. My dad always taught me that."

The door had opened again from the outside, and both girls turned around to see it was Reggie with Tavia. He stood by the entrance to the greenhouse for a moment when Tavia gave him a friendly warning. "Reggie, do not mess this up. Carver's close to letting you back in."

"Yeah, Tavia, I get it." Reggie assured. "You don't have to keep telling me over and over."

Tavia merely glared towards him and shifted her attention over towards the two girls, whom kept quiet while the adults were talking. "Girls, Reggie is going to be in charge here, alright? Listen to him and do whatever he tells you to do."

"No problem, Tavia, I think I can handle." Reggie reassured, wishing she would just go already and leave him be. His wish came true when Tavia walked out closed the door behind her.

He shifted his attention back towards the two girls, preparing to get them to work, but deep down, he took Tavia's warning into consideration, "Okay, we have to do a good job, girls. Alright? Everyone is counting on us. This job is super easy, even a baby could figure this out."

Clementine and Sarah followed him over towards a table with plants that had berries attached to them and baskets for the berries. "Pick up a pair of those shears." Reggie instructed in a friendly tone.

The two friends obeyed his order and both picked up their shears.

"Okay, all we need to do is pick the berries, put them in the basket, and if you see any dead branches, just cut them and stack them neatly for composting. Simple." Reggie instructed, but he hoped they would remember all this. "Think you can both do that?"

Clementine nodded in agreement and made her way over towards her work station. Sarah did not nod, and instead, began to play around with her shears.

Reggie caught this in the corner of his eyes, realizing this may be a bit of a problem, and decided to speak with Clementine. He did place his trust with this, but as for Sarah, he had some concerns for her. "Hey, is she going to be okay? She looks a little uneasy, and I have known Sarah for a while, and I know she has...A couple of problems."

"I'll take care of her, don't worry." Clementine assured with a slight smile across her face. "Like you said: it's simple."

"Good...I got to admit, I am bad when it comes to taking care of children. Look, just help me does this job, then I might be able to get back into the group, and then I can help you guys out so more." Reggie explained before he rose up his one hand and patted Clementine on the hat a couple of times. He took a step back when he noticed Clementine did not seem to like that. "Okay, that was a little awkward. I apologize. I think we should work now."

After he was gone, Clementine began her job collected the berries into the basket while cutting off any dead branches. But she turned towards Sarah, who continued fiddling around with her shears. Clementine did need to do her own work, but she did not want to leave her alone. She left her work just for a moment and went over to help Sarah with her job.

* * *

_Fifteen-minutes later_

Around fifteen-minutes had passed or so, and Clementine had eventually taught Sarah how to do her job. She watched for a moment while Sarah began cutting some of the dead branches off from the plant. "This isn't that hard you know, Sarah."

"I know it's not hard." she replied, a worried expression rose across her face. "I just didn't want to do a bad job."

Reggie had approached the two to check up on their work but he froze in his steps when he saw Carver marching towards the greenhouse. "Oh shit." he shifted his attention back towards the two girls, and fear spread down his spine when he noticed one of them had not finished their work. In fact, she did not even start. "Clementine, you didn't do any of your work. Oh, man."

"You told me to help Sarah, remember?" Clementine reminded him.

"Oh, no..." Sarah gasped.

Carver marched into the greenhouse, causing the trio to move back in fear. "Just thought I would come up here and check on their progress." he shifted his gaze towards Clementine's workstation and noticed those plants had not even been touched. He had only one person to blame for this: "Reggie. What the fuck is this?"

"Bill, it's just, well-" Reggie stuttered, nervously rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"I want an explanation, not an excuse." Carver demanded.

"Yeah, Bill, I know-It's-It's just with my one arm-it's just-I, it's just not easy, I, uh..." Reggie was lost in words as the fear of his punishment prevented him from speaking properly.

Clementine felt responsible for getting Reggie into trouble like this and had to defend him before Carver would do something he would not regret. "Mr. Carver, it was my fault."

"...Nah, this ain't for fault, the only one to blame is the one in charge." Carver explained, staring evilly towards Reggie with his frightening face, causing him to take a couple of steps back. "Girls, go outside for a moment will ya while Reggie and I have a little chat."

Clementine and Sarah obeyed his order and walked out of the greenhouse, leaving Reggie alone with Carlos. The two hoped that their actions would not cause Carver to keep Reggie in the yard any longer, or worse, punish him by pulling off his other arm. Carver was crazy, and to get on his bad side was a mistake no-one wanted to make. He already killed Walter and Alvin, and he knows how many more unnamed people he has killed.

The two waited outside for a couple of moments until the door to the greenhouse had suddenly burst open where a panicking Reggie was forced back by Carver over towards the edge of the roof. For losing his breaking point for having to put up with Reggie's mistakes, Carver grabbed him by the scruff of his clothes and yelled at his face. "I've gave you too many chances, you piece of shit! Can't even handle a simple fucking cutting job! Let's see if this will make you learn!"

Clementine watched in shock as Carver pushed Reggie over the edge of the roof, and could only watch as he plummeted towards the ground. His screams stop at the same time a sickening thud was heard down below. She ran towards the edge to see Reggie lying motionlessly on the ground, blood smearing out from his cracked skull. Carver had just committed a murder!

Carver showed no remorse for Reggie's death and merely watched as he looked down towards the ground below. "Weakness...Incompetence...Failure. It puts us all at risk. If you can't prove your loyalty here and this is the price you pay for having too many chances to do nothing but screw up. Now, Clementine get downstairs. Bonnie's got a job for you to do." he notice Sarah about to follow, but placed his arm in front of her, stopping the girl in her tracks. "Not you, Sarah, we need to have a little talk."

Clementine walked back towards the fire exit on the roof, taking one more look behind her to see Carver with his hand on Sarah's shoulder while speaking to her. She could not believe what he had just done. Reggie was a kind man, and had done nothing but hard work just to prove his loyalty towards Carver, and this is the price he paid? She had to tell someone about this, maybe Bonnie to prove how evil Carver truly was.

* * *

Meanwhile, in one of the many small shopping stores outside of the community, Lee and Mike had been put to work inside, and so far, the seemed to be going off to a great start. At the current moment, Mike held a wooden barricade against the window while Lee was hammering it to the windows. Walkers could be heard outside of the wooden fence around the area, but with Troy on guard, they were certain he would not let any walkers working inside despite the fact they did not like him one bit.

The door to the store had opened from the outside, and the one who walked inside with a bucket in her hands, but by the looks of her face, she seemed worried. She set the bucket down and ran over towards them, standing only a couple of feet away. "Lee! Reggie's dead!"

Both Lee and Mike were shocked by the sudden news that had just taken in. Reggie dead? How was this possible? No way in the world could a walker get into this community. Neither of them got the chance to respond to the sudden news when the wooden barricade they were working on dropped down, exposing the window and revealing multiple walkers banging on the window outside Enough force from all the walkers caused the glass the shatter into pieces, and the walkers began to invade from the outside. Why the hell wasn't Troy doing anything about this.

"Shit!" Mike jumped out of the way just in time; a second later he would have been a goner.

"Oh, fuck!" Lee cursed, clutching his hammer tightly as that was his only weapon. "Arm yourself with something!"

Lee and Mike moved out of harm's way and were prepared to take on the walkers, but Lee panicked when Clementine got separated from them and had to do something quick before she was devoured into pieces. "Clem, run!" Lee shouted.

Clementine backed away from a walker as she looked around for something to use as a weapon. She picked up a blank of wood and clobbered the closest walker a couple of times, but it did not stop him, and she was soon trapped in a corner.

Before realizing she was doomed, Clementine looked to her right and noticed a small gap through a collapsed isle that looked big enough for her to fit through. She dropped the wood and squeeze inside, desperate to escape. She continued moving through the gap, but the walker behind her soon gave chase, attempting to grab her. Eventfully, her luck ran out when three sharp objects sticking out of the isle (presumed to hold shelves up) blocked her way.

She placed both of her hands against the wall and pushed herself up against the isle, attempting to make enough room for her to squeeze through. With a groan and a quick yet hard push, the isle moved back just for a second, and she quickly jumped out of there. The walker pursing her was killed when the isle fell back down and one of the sharp object impaled him in the side of his head.

Clementine was about to make haste to escape, but she was cut off by three more walkers. She noticed ladders lined up against the wall and a sledgehammer resting beside her. She knew she was not strong enough to pick up the hammer and decided the ladders were her best bet. She grabbed the ladders and yanked them down towards the walkers, but it did not stop them and they continued to advance on her.

Clementine continued backing away from the two walkers and ran into the next room, but tripped over and got her foot tangled in a power cable. She panicked and attempted to pull her foot free from the cable, but it was too tight around her ankle and she was unable to escape. The flood light that was powered by the cable she was trapped in had collapsed down and broken, leaving her trapped in darkness. And simultaneously, the walkers collapsed down onto her.

Clementine placed her hands near the walker's neck and attempted to push it back, but the walker was strong and she would not be able to hold him back for long. She panicked when the walker's head was getting closer and closer towards her, preparing to take a fatal bite out of her neck. As she was on the verge on giving up, the walker no longer moved and blood smeared from the back of its head. Clementine sighed in relieve to see an arrow had been fired into the back of its head, killing the walker and saving her from certain death.

As she tried to push the dead corpse off of her, her savior had appeared and yanked the walker off of from her, but it was not who she wished to by saved by.

"Get your ass up!" Troy ordered, watching as Clementine go to her feet under her own strength. "Come on, go! Making me save you, Jesus! If it weren't for me, y'all would be fucked."

Clementine was escorted back into the same room where all of the walkers had been killed, and to her relief Lee and Mike were alive and okay.

Lee knelt down to Clementine's height and embraced her tightly, fearing that if Troy had not arrived, she might have been killed. "Clementine, thank God you're alright!"

"All right, enough mushy shit." Troy told them, not seeming too affected by the fact each of them could have died just then. "You get back to work right fucking now. I'm sure they got shit for you to do in there. Now! Think I'm fucking around? You!" he pointed at Clementine. "You get back where you came from, now!"

"Hey, don't you fucking speak to her like that!" Lee shouted, not afraid when it came to protecting his adoptive daughter.

"Shut the fuck up, motherfucker, or I will end you!" Troy threatened. "Now I got to sit down here and babysit you assholes. Can't do a simple fucking patch job without me here, watching you fucking idiots!"

Clementine nodded and proceeded to exit out of the workshop and make her way back to Bonnie like she had requested once she was done. As she was walking away, Clementine felt herself being grabbed by someone and pulled her inside the comic store. It all happened in a split-second. Whoever grabbed Clementine held their hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming. It all happened so fast, she did not even get the chance to see who it was.

After a few seconds of struggling, Clementine bit into her attackers' hand and this finally caused them to let go. She swiftly jumped around to see the figure shaking their hand to ease the pain. "Aaargh! Shit, stop, Clementine, it's me!

Clementine gasped when seeing a familiar face. "Luke?"

"Yes!" Luke gasped before he knelt down to her height while examining his hand to make sure she did not leave any fatal injuries. "Man...You fucking bit the hell of it me. I think you might have pulled out so skin. I come all this way without any sleep or food, sneak in here, and this is the thanks I get? Perfect."

Clementine felt like she wanted to hit Luke for scaring her like that, but instead, she embraced him in a hug to which he returned. "Luke, I was worried about you. All of us were. Glad you're back."

"Thanks, and it's good to see you too, Clementine." Luke admitted with a smile across his face, but decided he needed to get back to the reason why he yanked her in here. "All right, listen, we ain't got much time, okay? I followed y'all here best I could. Haven't had a night's rest since y'all got nabbed and...well, this is the first chance I got to talk to somebody. They're everywhere, okay? They got guards. Watching everything. Look, there's a herd of lurkers just south of us. It's bigger than I ever seen around these parts."

"I heard Carver mention that. He said he hopes it passes us, saying they weren't ready for it." Clementine replied.

Luke peaked open the door slightly, just enough for him to peak outside to check if anyone was now, and to his relief, no-one was around. He walked back over towards Clementine. "I know, I heard folks talking about that, but that ain't so, okay? It's going to hit this place. I know it is...I don't know when, but it's coming and it's going to be soon. See, I've been looking for places to...to get y'all free...but haven't been able to find anything yet. They plugged up all the holes we used when we got out."

Clementine had been paying everything he was saying, but did notice he did not seem his old-self. She could not put a finger on why he seemed different, but it was also something she could not notice. "Are you alright, Luke? You seem a little...Different."

"No...No, I mean...yeah, yes, sorry. I just need some sleep. Haven't sleep for a while." Luke answered a little too quickly for Clementine to believe him or not. "Hard to rest when you think a lurker's about to get the jump on you at any, any moment, but yeah. Yeah. I'm fine, okay? Don't worry about me."

"This plan...It seems dangerous to me." Clementine admitted, nervously rubbing her hands together.

"Well the whole situation's dangerous, but, well, we're in it now...It's what we got. " Luke reminded her, pacing up and down the room to help him think in his current state. "We just...We just need a plan...you know, a way to get you and...and everyone..." he fell silent again, looking like he was on the verge on passing out from lack of sleep.

Clementine turned towards the exit when someone had passed yet again, but her luck lasted when no-one had yet decided to come inside and investigate. She had to make this quick now. "Luke..."

"Oh, sorry, sorry." Luke dazed out from his tired state and hurried back over towards Clementine. "Shit...okay. Troy ain't going to like you being late." he knelt down to Clementine's height while quickly discussing their plan. "Listen, Clem, I need you to meet me here tomorrow, about this time, because I-I need you to get me one of those radios, okay? Do you think you can do that? Just-just one of those walkie talkies. I just need to be able to tell y'all what's going on with them guards...you know, I'll figure out the schedule their patrols are on. I mean, they're-they're all over the place but I can keep an eye on them for y'all from out here. Look, we ain't going to be able to shoot out way out of here so we got to be careful. W-we just got to be smart, okay? We got a plan. That radio is crucial to that."

"Where can I get one?" Clementine inquired, having yet to learn the layout of this place and where everything was located.

"I think they keep them in the stockroom. I ain't too sure, though." Luke admitted.

Clementine crossed her arms together and nodded in agreement to every sentence he said.

"Just...keep your eyes out for the charging station. They put most of them back on there at night. Remember, you meet me here tomorrow." Luke instructed. "I'll try and be here around this time, but if I ain't...just wait as long as you can, because I really need one of those radios. Just let everybody know I'm all right, okay? I'm worried that, uh-"

"Clementine!" Troy had shouted from outside of the store, startling them both and leaving them worried that someone could have been listening the entire time if he knew she was in there. "Get the fuck out where I can see ya right now!"

Luke felt somewhat relieve when Troy had not mentioned his name, meaning he did not know he was in there. "Go on, Clem! Get out of here."

Clementine obeyed his request and made her way outside while Luke went to go and hide just in case Troy decided to take a look around inside. She walked outside onto the walkway where Troy was waiting for her, armed with his AK-47.

"The fuck were you doing, huh?" he inquired. "Answer me, girl!"

Clementine did not answer question, unable to think of any excuse. She merely shrugged and remained silent.

"You're even stupider than, Sarah." Troy admitted, knowing he was not going to get an answer out of here. "Just go back to where you're heading, and don't fucking go in there again, you hear me? It's off limits."

Clementine obeyed and practically ran back inside the building, secretly praying that Luke could keep himself out of harm's way. As soon as out of his sights, she had to tell the others as soon as possible once they were together again in the yard. This was the perfect opportunity to get out of this place now, and they had to take it while they had the chance.

* * *

**Chapter is completed, ladies and gentleman. Reggie has perished, Luke has returned, and now it is time for all of the group to form a plan and get out of here.**


	13. Chapter 13: escape plan

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 13: planning an escape**

* * *

Night time had finally arrived after a long day of nothing but hard work, and now Lee, Clementine, Carley, and the rest of the cabin group were back into the yard, plotting their escape once they were informed by Clementine that Luke is back and currently hiding in the comic store. Everyone now discuss their plan of action and how they planned to get the radios back to Luke.

In the center of the yard, everyone gathered around the fire as they discussed their escape plan now that Troy was no longer around to guard them.

"-Alright, alright, let me get this straight." Lee told everyone around him while everyone was arguing with each other slightly. "The plan is to break into a stockroom, get the radios, and get them to Luke?"

"Well, yes." Carlos agreed, speaking for everyone around him since they did class him as the leader of their group. "Don't you agree?"

"Of course I agree, I just noticed a couple of problems, that's all." Lee answered, leaning back in his chair with his arms folded around his chest. "Number one: what if they find out two of their radios is missing? And second: how can we get them in the stockroom? We're all busy during the day, and we can't exactly get out of here without drawing attention to ourselves."

Carlos was about to say something back, but closed his mouth when he realized he was right. He hummed as he looked towards Sarah, whom merely stared at her father, and then he shifted his gaze towards the others. "Hmm...You do a good point, Lee."

"Do you have any other plans?" Rebecca asked him.

"Not yet, but I'm thinking, all right?" Lee assured, but he had no idea what his next move was going to be.

"Wonderful." Rebecca sighed, rolling her eyeballs around in annoyance.

"Fucking fantastic..." Mike mumbled.

"Hey, cut Lee a break." Lilly requested, defending Lee from their judgment, although they did not exactly say anything to offend him. "He's probably the smartest out of us all here. If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't be alive myself here right now."

Lee raised a slight smile and gave a supportive nod towards Lilly to which she returned. He was glad to have her back in his life now that she was no longer the high-tempered, angry woman he once knew. He soon shifted his attention back to the previous subject. "Look, there's no way out of this yard apart from the main gate, but that's always locked. Besides, even if we do get out of here, what's the plan next? Shoot our way out?"

"Have you seen their guns?" Rebecca reminded them. "Those are automatic rifles. We can't shoot past them."

"I got an idea..." Jane had finally spoken after she usually kept silent during everyone's conversations and when she was not crazy. "There's a horde of walkers coming, right? If

"The first thing I here you say, and it's a crazy idea." Mike chuckled. "Besides, how do you know it works?"

"Because I always use to do it all the time before I got sucked into this camp." Jane answered as she sat down in one of the chairs. "It's simple; you just smear walker guts all around you and they can't tell you from a human to an undead. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

"Is she serious?" Lilly inquired, shocked about this plan of hers. "You want us to cover ourselves up in their blood and walk among them?"

"Better then shooting our way out." Jane clashed, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

"Look, we'll come back to that later." Lee suggested, but he himself was not too sure about this plan of hers. For now, he got back to the other problem at hand. "Okay, first, how do we get out of this yard and get the radios?"

"What about the winch?" Carley suggested.

Everyone shifted their attention over towards the broken ladders in the corner of the yard and looked above to see the rope and the winch that they usually used to lift things up towards the roof. It did seem like a good idea, but it did not look safe for any of them to use.

"That good work, but that thing breaks all the time." Jane warned, finally speaking after she always kept silent during their conversations. "We just need someone light to climb up on."

"Besides, all of us are too heavy for that thing...Except for Clementine..."

"What?" Lee was in shock to what he had just said. No way was he going to send Clementine up there all on her own. "That's crazy."

"Lee, I can do it." Clementine assured, getting out from her chair and proceeding over towards her guardian. "I have to."

"Clementine, it's dangerous." Lee warned, unable to imagine what would happen if a guard caught her out of the yard. He turned towards the others who seemed to agree with Mike about sending Clementine up there. "Guys, are you serious? These are not just walkers were dealing with. These are people. People armed with automatic rifles."

"Lee, I said I can do it." Clementine reassured, an annoyed expression was beginning to rise across her face.

"Clem...I..." Lee trailed off and sighed, knowing there was no other way, but he did not want to lose the closest thing he had to a daughter. He promised to protect her no matter what, and sending her out there on her own meant he could not help her if she got into a situation.

Lee stood out of his chair and knelt down to Clementine's height level, placing his left hand upon her shoulder whilst looking into her eyes. "Clem...Can you promise me that you will be careful? If something bad happens, you know we can't do anything to help."

"I know, Lee." Clementine was aware of the many risks she would take by doing this job, but she had to do it for the sake of everyone here. "I can do it. I've done worse than this."

"...Alright, then, Clementine. Come on, I'll give you a boost." Lee offered as he and the others stood up and made their way over towards the broken ladders. He leaned down and picked up Clementine and placed her on his shoulders, holding her ankles as he tried to keep his balance. "Can you reach it?"

"Almost." she replied, reaching out her hand as much as she could Clementine struggled to reach the rope for a moment, but she was able to reach it eventually and yanked most of it down for them to use. Lee placed her back down once both ends of the rope were dropped down for them to use.

"Here. I'll pull her up." Mike offered, he gripped onto the normal rope while Clementine held onto the rope with the hook on the end that she used to put her feet on it.

Mike slowly pulled the rope and lifted her up to the top. "Try to hurry, all right?" he suggested in a whispered tone. "Carver's guards aren't the smartest guards in the world, but they're also not stupid either."

Mike shifted his attention over towards the security shutters when he could see Troy was returning, and this was not going to end well if he caught them doing this. "Shit, Troy's coming back!"

"Fuck, Clementine, hang on!" Lee shouted in a whispered tone, but he was unsure what to do next.

"Lee, I can't stand here, I've got to let her go." Mike panicked, knowing he only had a matter of seconds to move before Troy returned. "Grab something, Clementine!"

Without thinking, Clementine leaped onto the broken ladder cage, grabbing on for a dear life. "Oof!" she grunted as she swung onto the ladders and climbed her way up to the rooftop. She stopped just for a moment when seeing a herd of walkers in the distance. "That's not good."

Clementine continued climbing the ladders while Lee and the others ran back towards the center of the yard around the fire, and hopefully, she would be able to get the radios before the guards noticed she was missing, or if they would spot her on her way there.

Lee and the others sat back down just in time when the security shutters had opened from the outside where Troy had marched inside with his AK-47 was usually. "All right, what the fuck are you all doing?"

"What?" Lee shrugged, acting like he had no idea what he was talking about. "We're just talking with each other. That a crime?"

"Shut up." Troy ordered as he eyed each and every one of them, whom merely stared at him. "What are y'all still awake for anyway?"

"Just...Talking..." Carley simply answered, unsure what to say as an excuse,

"Talking, huh?" Troy queried, not seeming to notice that the little girl with the group was no longer present with then. He continued watching them for a moment until he finally decided it was time to go, and that there was no trouble here that concerned him. "All right, feel free to head to bed whenever. Don't bother me how much y'all sleep."

After he was gone and closed the security shutters behind him, everyone sighed in relief that he did not notice Clementine was missing. Now all they had to do was waiting until Clementine returned. Hopefully she would not get caught in anyway and would be able to get those radios.

Lee was the most worried one out of them all. He did not want anything bad to happen to Clementine, and he knew full fact that Carver and the rest of his men had no quarrels with hurting a child. Looking back, he remembered the many times she was in danger. The walker that ambushed her in the drugstore when she needed to go to the bathroom, the walker that grabbed onto her foot during the escape from the drugstore, the St. Johns when they held them all hostage and Andy even grabbed her hair at gunpoint. The Save-Lot Bandits when she and the others were held hostage, the walker that almost got her when she was trapped in the cage, when she was trapped against the horde of walkers in Savannah. She was always luck to get out of those situations without dying, but Lee knew that Luck did not always last forever.

While he was deep in his thoughts, Carley whom was sitting beside him had reached out her hand and placed it upon his own. She spoke to him in a soothing and reassuring tone with a slight smile across her face. "Lee, you know Clementine's going to be back. She knows what she's doing."

"I know that, Carley." Lee replied, still deep in his thoughts about his adoptive daughter. "It's just that she's came close to death more times than I can remember."

"I know, Lee, but Clementine isn't like other girls, remember?" Carley reminded her boyfriend of the fact that Clementine was one in a million. "She's smart and knows how to handle situations. I promise that any moment now she will jump back down from that rooftop with the radios, safe and sound."

"I hope not. Jumping from that height could break her legs." Lee replied in a joking matter, trying to make bright during his concerns for Clementine.

"I'm sure one of us will be ready to catch her when she's back." Mike assured while he leaned back in his chair and placed his hands into his lap.

"Let's just hope she can make it back." Carlos hoped with a worried expression across his face when he feared the many consequences they would suffer if things went wrong.

"She'll be back." Lilly reassured towards the doctor. "I've known Clementine for a long time, and that little girl is not like any girls." she turned towards Lee for agreement. "Right Lee?"

"Right." Lee smiled. "Besides, are there even any guards in that stockroom?"

"Me and Lilly were working in there earlier today. No-one was guarding the inside while we were in there." Sarita answered. "I'm not sure if anyone's guarding the inside during nighttime, though."

"Well, all we can do is wait...And hope." Carlos stated, hoping that he could count on Clementine to make it back here in one piece.

Around fifteen-minutes had passed or so during their waiting time in the yard, and to their relief (especially Lee's) they looked towards the broken ladders to see Clementine had returned, but the only problem she had was getting back down. She climbed down the broken ladders as far as she could go and looked down to see Mike waiting for her with his arms spread open, preparing to catch it.

Clementine jumped down and landed safely in his arms, and Mike carefully set her down and headed back over to their beds.

"We should get in bed before Troy returns." Mike suggested as the two proceeded to make their way over towards the bunk beds.

Nearby where everyone was resting, Carley and Lee whom were currently sharing one of the beds both seemed relieved when Clementine had returned. Carley playfully nudged Lee's arm with a slight grin across her face. "Told you that she would make it."

"I knew that." Lee assured, but Carley merely rolled her eyeballs around in response.

Clementine remained silent for a moment as she walked over to everyone else, who was waiting for an answered, anxious to hear if she got the radios or not.

"Did you get the radios, Clementine?" Lee inquired, speaking in a normal toned voice when his worries were at ease.

Sarah whom was sitting inside her bed with her legs crossed together spoke up towards her best friend, like the others, eager to hear of her noise. "Come on, Clem, don't keep us waiting. Did you get the radios?"

Clementine merely smiled in response as she took out one of the radios from her jacket pocket and showed it to everyone. "Get two of them. One for us, and one for Luke."

She placed the radio back in her pocket and climbed into her bed underneath Sarah's.

"All right, now let's all head." Lee told them, not wanting to risk anything in their plan going wrong now that they got this far. "We don't want Troy sneaking up on us."

Everyone nodded in agreement and proceeded to get to sleep.

Sarah lied herself down on her side and praised Clementine for getting those walkie-talkies without getting spotted. "That was so cool, Clem. Nice job."

"Good job, Clementine." Carlos praised, relieved that she had completed her mission with a hitch.

"Thank you, Clementine." Lilly thanked, never being more grateful to have the young girl and her friends back.

"I had the feeling you would make it back in one piece. Nice job." Jane praised while getting herself comfortable across the ground since she did not have any beds unlike the rest of them. "Anyway, get some rest."

"Thanks." Clementine simply replied.

Clementine proceeded to get some rest for the night. But her eyes opened again when she felt Lee's hand touching her shoulder with a smile across his face. "Nice job, Clementine. I knew you could do it, sweat-pea."

"Thanks." she smiled, but soon closed her eyes when she needed to get as much sleep as possible, knowing it was time to work again in the morning.

The next morning, everyone had woken up as early as they could before they it was time for them to work to discuss their plan of action. Now that they had the radios, all they needed to get those radios out to Luke...But there was still a slight problem with their plan.

"All right, everyone's here." Lee declared, folding his arms together as everyone gathered around.

"All right, now all we need to do is get one of the radios out to Luke. " Rebecca stated the obvious, but she was unsure to why they still had to discuss their plans. "What's the problem, exactly?"

"We need to figure out who's doing what before we're out of here, and-" Kenny was cut off when the security shutters had opened. He swiftly grabbed the radio and hid it behind his back while he watched Tavia marched inside.

"Time to get to work." Tavia declared while marching inside with her AK-47 holstered. "Daylight's burning. Most"

"Yeah, where's my dad?" Sarah inquired.

"He's where the rest of you are going: To work." Tavia answered in a somewhat harsh tone towards the young girl. "Rebecca, Carley, Lilly, Sarah, Jane...If you need to take a piss, I suggest you do it now because the next break won't be for a while. Troy will be coming up for the rest of you."

"Why just them?" Lee inquired.

"Like I said...Troy's coming for the rest of you." Tavia repeated, ignoring his question. She turned around and marched out of the yard. One of Carver's men-Hank-closed the security shutters and left the remaining group alone.

The second they were alone again, Lee quickly got back to the previous subject, and he knew he was going to have to move fast before Troy arrived. "All right, look. If we're going to do something, we have to do it NOW, and if Luke's all we got, then we pair up with him."

"I'll do it." Mike assured while folding his arms together. "Where's he sat?"

Lee did trust Mike and would have his help at any time, but after last night's events, he now felt he could give his adoptive daughter more for jobs. "Actually Mike, I was thinking about sending Clementine..."

This caused Clementine to smile slightly. She now knew that Lee no longer treated her as a kid, and instead, treated her as someone he could trust and send on dangerous missions.

"Are you fucking kidding?" Mike asked, shocked that he would be willing to send a little girl to risk doing something so dangerous. "No offence or anything, but she's a kid. Why would you want to send her? I can do it."

"Clementine's smart" Lee answered while he folded his arms together against his chest. "Look, she knows where Luke is, she can hide, and she got the radios for us in the first place. And I don't think Carver or his men would expect a little girl to lead them to their doom. If I trust someone to do something this important, I trust her."

Clementine did not really have any say in this but she did agree that her getting the radio to Luke was the best thing to do right now. "Lee's right. I can do it."

"You don't trust me to get a radio to someone?" Mike asked. "Look, its crazy. Just give me the radio."

Before they could discuss or argue further on who should take the radio, the security shutters had opened again. For a second time, Lee swiftly hid the radio behind his back again as Troy came marching in with his Ak-47 holstered. "All right little chickens, let's get to pecking."

Clementine was too busy keeping an eye on the radio behind Lee's back, knowing if Troy saw it, then it was not going to end well.

"And don't think today's going to be like yesterday. No way. No shenanigans." Troy refereed to the previous day when walkers had invaded the community. "This rooster's going to be surveilling your ass every second of the day, you hear? Don't think I'm going to be around to save your assess if things go bad again. Got that?" he told Lee. "I need an answer, boy."

"Yes sir." Lee answered, trying to hide his anger and prevent himself from hitting him.

"Come on, then." Troy ordered, turning back around to escort the trio with him.

Before heading out with him, Lee realized he still had the radio with him and had to get rid of it before Troy or anyone else noticed.

Quick as a flash, Lee swiftly turned around towards Clementine like a ninja and began fiddling around with her coat. "Clementine, oh, you have your pockets all out." he gave her a supportive smile and a wink as he pushed the radio into her pocket for her to get to Luke. "You're going to get tangled on something. Now we go, all fixed."

Troy could only assume he was doing stupid to waste time, but what he was unaware of is that Lee had just placed the radio into Clementine's pocket.

Clementine placed both of her arms around her pockets to better hide the radio since the antenna was showing slightly. Troy merely stared towards Lee whom shrugged in response. He only assumed he was a lunatic like before. "Whatever, done with the huggy, wuggy shit? Let's go."

Troy escorted them out of the yard and took them over towards the same area where they were working last time, and he was certain to make sure nothing went wrong this time. As he got towards the fire exit that would take them outside, he was stopped by Bonnie. "Hey, Troy, she's with me, remember?

"Oh, shit, I almost forgot." Troy admitted.

Bonnie merely responded by shaking her head side-to-side in disappoint and folded her arms together. She noticed Clementine and Lee looking towards each other, both looking somewhat concerned. She shrugged it off and assumed it was nothing she needed to be concerned about

"Well, then take here, I don't give a damn." Troy replied, unnecessarily whacking his AK-47 against Clementine to shove her forward.

"Hey!" Lee was about to hit him for touching Clementine, but he stopped when Troy aimed his AK towards him, and he also did not wish to do anything to compromise their plan. "What's going on?"

"Never you mind." Troy refused to answer his question.

"Just different chores she needs to do. It's nothing that will hurt her." Bonnie assured him before walking away and escorting Clementine with her. "Come on, city mouse."

"Will she be gone long?" Lee inquired attempting to make an excuse for her since she had the radio in her pocket, and they all knew she had to get it to Luke as soon as possible. "She should stay with us...People she knows."

"I assure you, it ain't going to kill her." Bonnie reassured a second time.

"Okay." Clementine agreed, turning back towards Lee to assure him that she knew what she was doing. "It's okay."

After she was gone, Troy proceeded to escort the two outside against their will. He took them back down the walkway until they reached the same store they were working in yesterday before they were ambushed by walkers. Troy stood by the entrance as he nodded his head towards the inside. "All right, get to work, little chickens."

Lee and Mike obeyed his order and proceeded to get a move on with their work. Both of them hoped that Clementine would be able to get that radio to Luke soon before she either ended up losing it, getting caught, or Luke would leave. After all, Clementine did remind them that Luke did not look in the best shape when she saw him. Hopefully he would not pass out from lack of sleep or try to steal some food.

"Ya'll better hurry that shit up." Troy warned, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded. "You think I like babysitting you assholes?"

"You sure got a temper, you know that, Troy?" Lee admitted while he held a wooden against where the window use to be for Mike to hammer down.

"Shut the fuck up, you fucking moron." Troy ordered, waving his gun around in the air for a moment. "Don't forget that I'm the one holding the gun here, asshole."

The two continued their work for a couple of moments while Troy had walked a couple of feet away when Carver has contacted him on the radio. They could not make out what he was saying exactly, but did here some words. "_What...? He's here...? No fucking away...All right, I'll bring them..._"

Troy made his way back into the workshop and aimed his weapon at them. "All right, little chickens, looks like you're getting off work early. Bill radioed, says he wants y'all back in the yard ASAP. So get fucking moving."

Lee and Mike obeyed his order and made their way out of the building and back down the walkway with Troy holding them at gun point behind them. However, they noticed he had stopped and had his attention focused on the comic store. "You two wait there! Don't move!" Troy ordered as he made his way back towards the comic store to investigate.

The two had no idea why he wanted to go inside there but they obeyed his request and remained where they were. Lee folded his arms together as he turned towards Mike. "Why do you think they called us back to the yard?"

Mike merely shrugged in response.

"Figures." Lee sighed.

The duo shifted their attention over towards the comic store when Troy had appeared into their sights again, and to their shock, he held a familiar face by her neck. He kept his grip on her neck as he dragged her over towards her guardian and friend.

"You people been here one fucking day and already you're fucking up. Well you wait and see what happens." Troy shouted as tossed Clementine back over to Lee and Mike, who were waiting by the fire exit. "MOVE!"

"Hey!" Lee snapped until he remembered that Troy was still carrying his gun. He placed his arm onto Clementine while they were held at gun point.

Troy aimed his weapon at them and proceeded to escort them back into the building. He took the trio through the building and back towards the direction towards the yard.

Once they arrived, Lee, Mike and Clementine were forced back to the yard where everyone in their group was hear and accounted for, but to their shock, Luke was there too, and the second they saw him they knew trouble was soon to follow. He looked injured and was currently sitting on the ground while Carlos attended to him.

Tavia and Troy stood guard over the prisoners to make sure none of them tried anything.

Carver was amongst the many people in the yard, and he did not seem happy after discovering their escape plan. He gave them everything they wanted in this day and age, and this was the thanks he gets. He marched up and down the area while speaking to the group in a calm yet serious matter. "- and how is it that we're repaid for our trust? With treachery...? With deceit...? With theft!"

"Did anyone know about this?" Clementine asked Lee regarding Luke.

Lee merely shook his head in response.

Carver held one of the radios Clementine had stolen into the air, knowing there was still one radio unaccounted for. "Whatever you were planning is over...It's done. You can't just run from your problems. You can't just up and leave when it gets tough..." he lowered his hand and walked over towards Rebecca. "...Because there is nowhere else you can go where it ain't." he proceeded to walk past everyone else in the ground. "Tough is all we got, now. Get that through your fucking skulls."

Carver marched back into the spot he was standing moments ago in between Tavia and Troy, demanding the second radio. "Luke here, he can't help you now...You got to help yourselves...You got to help me find the strength to forgive you. Now you can start...by telling me where the other one is. I'm going to count to three. If that radio ain't in my hand by then, we will have to make things more difficult...One...Two..."

No-one responded to his request, not wanting to get their friends into trouble. Especially Clementine, whom was the one who stole them in the first place and she currently had them in her possession at the moment.

Clementine did not anyone else to suffer from his tyranny, especially if their blood would be on her hands. She was afraid, but had to speak up in order to save her friends. If she did not say something, then all of them would be punished.

"I have-" Clementine was about to admit to her crimes, but Lee had spoken up over her and suddenly snatched the radio out from her pocket and held it up into the air.

"I got it right here!" Lee declared, holding the radio up into the air for Carver to see. He watched as Carver held out his hand for the radio and proceeded to give it him back, but he was stopped by Carley.

"Lee..." Carley was in too much fear to get her words out.

"It's all right, Carley." he assured, marching back over towards Carver. "Sorry about that...Not sure what we were thinking. Here's the radio."

"Three." Carver finished counting as Lee dropped the radio into his hands.

The duo started at each other for a moment. Carver kept an angry expression across his face, but as for Lee, he first looked concerned about what consequences he would face, but his expression changed into a hateful one when he assumed Carver was bluffing. "...heh. Think you're all tough...Bastard."

Everyone present did not have the chance to blink when Carver had smacked the end of the radio against Lee's face; the force was so powerful that it knocked him to the ground.

"No!" Carley gasped.

"God." Luke mumbled.

"You just made a big fucking mistake, Lee." Carver warned him as he tightened the radio in his hands. "We don't tolerate what you just did, and now I'm going to make you pay for that."

Before he could continue, Lee had suddenly burst back up with his hand curled into a fist, and he punched Carver directly in the side of his face, almost knocking him to the ground. Lee went for a second hit; Carver blocked his fist using his arm and head-butted Lee back down towards the ground, and this time, for good.

Carver's expression turned even angrier as he proceeded to beat down Lee to further to punish him for his treachery. He continued smacking the radio against the helpless man, causing blood to smear across his coat and face, but he did not seem to care.

"Fucking stop!" Mike demanded, backing away in fear as he proceeded to beat down Lee.

"Stop him!" Carley begged, about to run over and help her boyfriend, but she was held back by Carlos. "Somebody stop him! Let me go! LEE!"

"Stop!" Carlos exclaimed while he tried his best to restrain her form helping Lee, but he was able to get a good grip on her. "Clementine, come and help me!"

"You don't have to do this, Carver." Mike assured, but his words did not get through to the evil macaw.

"NO! STOP IT! NO!" Carley begged, now crying as she could not bear to watch her boyfriend suffer like this. "LEE! LEE!"

Clementine looked back towards both her guardians as she tried to decide what to do next. As much as she wanted to help Lee after he had taken the blame for her, she knew that would not end well and she would end up getting stopped by Troy or Tavia. She instead ran towards Carlos and helped him restrain Carley from running over there.

Bonnie had entered the room and witnessed the entire events of Carver beating down the defenseless Lee. "Bill! That's enough! Bill! Please! Stop!"

Troy had looked towards Carver for a moment with a somewhat visibly unnerved expression, but he looked away and pretended nothing had even happened, not showing any care for the beating of Lee.

"Bill, there's a breach!" Bonnie warned.

Carver shifted his attention back towards her when hearing the word "breach," and struck Lee down one more time before marching towards the shutters with Troy and Tavia. "All right, everyone come with me. Bonnie, you stick around. Make sure these folks don't get into any more trouble."

Bonnie was in complete shock to what she had just witnessed. "Yeah...Sure."

Carver stopped in his tracks and turned around to the prisoners, and some of them were now attending to Lee, who was now unconscious. "No supper for y'all tonight. Maybe an empty stomach will give you some perspective...Then we will try this again tomorrow."

"Do your best with him, Carlos. You need to get him able to move, because we're leaving tonight." Bonnie declared, and this caused each and everyone one of them to raise shocked yet puzzled expressions to why she had decided to help them, taking a big risk for all of them. She thought Carver was a good man for building all of this community up, but after witnessing him killing Walter and beating down Lee that was the last straw for her, and it was time to get out of here. "We're leaving tonight."

* * *

**Well, what a twist of events, eh? Lee has been beaten down by Carver but did try to put up a fight, and now it is time for them to trust Bonnie to help get them out of the yard. Stay tuned for 14 that will be the last chapter until _Amid the Ruins_ has been released.**


	14. Chapter 14: escaping

**The Walking Dead: Fight for ****Survival**

**Chapter 14: escaping**

**Hey, everyone, this chapter was suppose to be released two days ago, but as luck would have it, I was unwell. But I am feeling fine now and have the strength to continue writing. And this is going to be the last chapter until _Amid The Ruins_ has been released.**

* * *

A long while had passed since Lee had been brutally beaten by Carver after taking the blame for Clementine, and now the remaining group members tried to debate whenever they should go tonight or not. Bonnie had agreed to help them once it was time, but at the moment, a couple of them were unsure if they wanted to go tonight or not.

Luke and Mike, whom were standing by the security shutters speaking with Bonnie had eventually moved away and joined with the rest of the group.

"What did Bonnie say?" Rebecca inquired eager to get out of here as soon as possible.

"She said she can get us out of the pen if we can get the PA system going." Mike answered. "She thinks attracting that horde of walkers. Second she hears it she will run over and spring us."

"Walkers?" Clementine queried. "Then how are we supposed to get out of here."

"I think I can handle that." Jane assured, now it was her turn to do something useful to aid the group. "Remember what I said. If we smear ourselves in walker blood, then they can't tell us apart. We can just walk among them scot-free.

"That's great." Rebecca agreed, anxious to get out of here before Carver returned.

"Rebecca, it's not that great." Luke countered as a worried expression rose across his face.

"What are you talking about?" Rebecca inquired, shocked and confused to what the younger man had just said. "Do you want to stay here or something?!"

"Look, I know part of this is my fault, I-I know. I was hungry, I got reckless trying to steal some food and I got caught." Luke explained, but that was not exactly a reason to why it was not such a great idea.

"Are you fucking nuts?" Lilly was in complete shock to what he had just suggested. "It's your fault we're even in this situation and now

"We can't stay here!" Clementine clashed, not wanting anyone else to be injured or die for that matter after everything that has happened.

"Exactly." Rebecca agreed. "We have no idea what Carver's going to do to us next. We have to leave now."

"Look, I hear what you're saying, but it's risky." Luke explained.

"Risky? Did you see that that son of a bitch just did?" Mike reminded, referring to the injured Lee. "Look the plan works. Nothing needs to change. It's all set up. The hard part is done. This guy's fucking crazy. Who knows what he will do next?"

"Yeah, but now we're dealing with a guy beat to shit, Carley's in no shape to do anything, and I'm a goddamn mess." Luke picked out the flaws in their plan to why they could not escape yet. "Look, we should rest up, okay? We should bide out time, and we should wait for an opening."

"Bonnie's agreeing to help us tonight." Mike reminded him.

"And that doesn't mean she can't do it some OTHER night." Luke quickly responded, countering his reason with his own.

"We're NOT waiting." Rebecca refused, eager to get out of here the second they had an opportunity. "I am not staying here a day longer. Who's to say Carver won't shoot me once this baby's been born?"

A couple of the group remained silent during their conversation and argument on what to do. They did not know whom to trust. Staying here any longer was bad but going tonight when some of them are not fit to go is also bad. What would they do?

Before long, Carlos had returned after attending to Lee, and the look of his face did not look good. Carley had leaned herself up after spending hours of crying ever since Lee

"This is exactly what I'm talking about, guys." Luke explained, noticing Clementine gazing upon the injured Lee. "We're in no shape to go."

"You better fix him...You better." Clementine told Carlos, not wanting to lose her guardian and her friend after everything he had done for her. He did not deserve this. She had hope he would pull through, but all she could was wait."

"I'm doing my best." Carlos assured in a normal tone. "I got him as stable as I could, cleaned the blood, and got some of the swelling down. He is only bruised across his face ...But until he wakes up...We won't know if there's any damage to the brain."

Carley burst out in tears yet again when hearing the news of Lee possibly having a permanent injury.

"Shit." Mike swore.

Luke could only think of one more possible solution of them getting out of here by tonight, but he was certain that not everyone was going to agree with him. "Okay, look...Maybe I'm just playing devil's advocate here, but if...dammit, if y'all are serious about going tonight, then we're going to have to start talking about maybe...Leaving some folks behind."

"NO!" Carley refused.

"There is no other way." Luke replied.

"There's always another way." Sarita countered.

"This is bullshit." Rebecca admitted, obvious not agreeing with this selfish plan of his.

"Well, I don't like it either, but guess what? It's where we're at." Luke explained, but his words did not convince others to agree.

"Lee, Clementine, Lilly, and I are only here because of you people..."Carley reminded him, knowing this was unfair for her and her family to be involved in this situation, and now they wanted to leave him here when it was their fault for them being here in the first place. "And now you want to leave us behind? Fuck you."

"So we should risk all of our lives?" Carlos asked while shrugging his arms during mid-sentence.

"What are you saying?" Rebecca inquired.

"Nothing..." Carlos answered. "I'm-I'm just pointing out the obvious."

"We are NOT leaving Lee!" Carley refused, she could rather stay here with Lee and suffer from Carver's tyranny than just leave him behind like this.

"No! We're not leaving Lee!" Clementine agreed with Carley, feeling the same way about her and the others being here because of them. "That's not fair. We stay together."

"Life ain't fair, Clem." Luke reminded her. "We're just trying to make the best of a bad situation, here. No-one wants to leave Lee."

"Good, because...No-one ain't leaving me."

Hearing the family voice, everyone shifted their attention over towards the side of the yard and we're super relieved to see Lee was awake and was able to walk under his own strength. He still had a little trouble walking, but after taking the injuries he just suffered, any other person would have still been unconscious. His face was bruised after the many injuries he had taken, but he still seemed to be fine.

Carley stood up approached him and embraced Lee in a hug to which he returned. "I'm all right, Carley." he assured, groaning slightly while speaking. He waited until she was done hugging before speaking up to the rest of the group. "The plan does not change. We're leaving."

"You are one tough bastard." Mike admitted, chuckling slightly during mid-sentence.

"Do tough bastards get the shit kicked out of them in front of everybody?" Lee inquired; a slight grin appeared across his face. He watched as Clementine approached him with a sad yet regretful expression. "You all right, Clementine? Don't blame yourself. It was my choice to take the blame."

Clementine did not respond, and instead, ran towards Lee and embraced him in a hug.

"It's all right." Lee assured with a slight smile across his face as he returned the hug and held Clementine close to him like she was his own child.

Once the two were done hugging, Luke spoken up about their sudden change of plan. "All right...Well then, what now?"

"We get out of here when it's time." Lee answered.

"Like now, now?" Luke inquired, still thinking it was a bad idea to leave tonight.

"Yes." Rebecca answered.

"Where are we going?" Lee inquired, knowing that they had to make a plan. "In case things get bad and we get separated, we need a place to meet up."

"We could meet out at Parker's Run." Mike suggested.

"What's that?" Lee asked.

"It's a Civil War site a few miles north. Tourist trap. Got signs all over. Just follow the road." Mike answered, describing their meeting place they planned to head to.

"We stopped there after we escaped the first time." Rebecca added. "Luke and Carlos know where it is. It's not that far."

"Well, if a couple of you know where it is, then it will be easier to find if we're split up." Lee stated, trying to look on the bright side of their current situation. "All right, that works with me. Now all we need to do is get someone to go set off that PA. Who's supposed to do that?"

Unfortunately, there was only one person who would be able to get out of the yard without drawing any attention to herself, and that was no other than Clementine. One-by-one, everyone shifted their sights over towards Clementine with normal expressions across their faces. Luke, however, was shocked to see they wanted to send her.

"Wait, wait, hold on..." Luke interrupted, unsure if they could send Clementine on her own for a second time. "She's the plan?"

"Yeah, she is." Lee answered while folding his arms together. "She got out of here once, then she can do it again."

Clementine, realizing that everyone was right and she would be the only one to get out of the yard via the rope that Jane commonly used for her job here. She did not wish to go, but it was necessary. "Why is it always me?" she inquired.

Everyone proceeded over towards the rope to help Clementine get up. Mike picked up Clementine and held her on his shoulders for a second time while she grabbed the rope and yanked it down.

Once Clementine had grabbed onto the rope with her feet rested on the hook, Rebecca briefed the young girl on her job that she needed to do. "Be sure to remember to flip the switch for the outdoor speakers. Just the indoor speakers might not draw the herd. It's right on the microphone box. By default it's set to play music, so you should just have to turn it on, right? Then climb back up and drop into the stockroom. We will meet you there." Rebecca finished and hoped Clementine had remembered all this.

To be certain she remembered all of her instructions and did not forget anything; Clementine repeated what Rebecca had said. "I got into the office, I switch on the outdoor speaker, I turn on the PA, I go up to the roof, and then I go down into the stockroom to meet you guys. Is that right?"

"Perfect." Rebecca smiled.

Mike began to pull Clementine up towards the roof again for the second time, and hopefully Troy or any other guard would not arrive again which resulted in Clementine having to make a jump for it. Hopefully she would be able to get into Carver's office and meet them in the stockroom without being caught.

"Be careful." Carley warned.

"Good luck, Clementine." Lee wished her good luck.

"Thanks." Clementine nodded in agreement as she reached over towards the ladders, pulled herself through the ladder cage and proceeded to climb up towards the roof. Now all the rest of them had to do was wait until she returned.

Once she was gone, the rest of them group prepared themselves to escape the second Bonnie would arrive to assist them on getting out of here. They did not have any weapons for now, and even if they did, the odds of fighting their way out of here would be slim. Their only option would be to listen to Jane's plan, they sure did not like the sound of it, but it was better than nothing.

While the group was waiting, Carley had helped Lee sit down for a moment for him to rest; despite the fact he insisted that he was fine. "Lee, you need to rest."

"Carley, I'm fine." Lee assured, groaning slightly as he sat down in one of the chairs around the fire. "I can't rest; I got to be ready to make a move once Bonnie arrives."

Mike approached Rebecca while they were waiting and had an interesting question on his mind that he had to ask. "How do you know about the P.A system, anyway?"

"I used to make a lot of the announcements back in the day...I had it flipped on once...luckily there wasn't much around at the time to hear it." Rebecca answered. "It was plenty loud though."

"Think it will be enough to attract the walkers?" Lilly inquired as she joined in on their conversation.

"Should be." Rebecca admitted, but she was not one-hundred percent sure if that was going to work or no.

"We better hope so." Mike replied, folding his arms together as he eyed the security shutters, expecting Bonnie's arrival any second now.

Nearby, Luke and Carlos were having a discussion on the weapons situation if they were to be spotted. After all, almost everyone in this community were armed with AK-47's and they would have to be prepared if things went wrong.

"We will need weapons." Carlos admitted. "We might run into trouble in our way here."

"No problem." Luke assured already one step ahead of the weapons situation. "When I was speaking Bonnie, she mentioned she managed to get us a couple of weapons in a bag that she's going to bring for us when the P.A system goes off. Should be enough to get us out of here."

"We better hope so." Carlos hoped, folding his arms together as he turned towards his daughter, whom looked somewhat sad yet scared. He hoped he would be able to protect her and get her out of here in one piece.

After a couple of minutes had passed or so, a loud static had been turned on out from the speakers, followed by a voice recording of a woman's voice. The P.A system had been activated. Everyone ran towards the security shutters where Bonnie had returned, and she made haste to get a move on. She opened the security shutters and holstered a Single Action Army revolver. "Quick, we need to go, now!"

"Did you get us any weapons?" Luke inquired.

"Yeah, here." she replied, taking off her backpack and opening it up, revealing a couple of weapons for them to us: Luke's machete, an extra machete, a knife, a hammer, a hatchet, and two Glock 17s. "Take what you need. We need to get moving."

The entire group armed themselves with the weapons and proceeded to follow Bonnie out of the yard and into the community. Lee took a Glock 17, Luke took his machete back, Jane took the knife and the other Glock 17, Carlos took the hammer, and Sarita took the other machete.

"_From charcoal briquettes to propane tanks, Howe's has all you need to make your day special._"

"All right, y'all, follow me to the stock room." Bonnie instructed as she ran down the community with the others follow her from behind. A couple of them had a little trouble moving due to their injuries, but were still able to keep up with the rest of the group.

Bonnie put her hand out for a moment when they reached the huge shopping area, beckoning for them to stop when she saw one of Carver's guards-Hank-run back down the stairs that led from Carver's office. It could only be assumed that he was trying to turn off the P.A system, but he could not do it for some reason.

Bonnie watched as Hank ran into another room, leaving them in the clear before any more guards returned. "All right, he's gone, let's go."

"_This week only, Kennedy lead blowers are 22% off. Howe's that for a deal?_"

"How much further do we have to go?" Carley inquired, unsure of where the stockroom was.

"It's just up ahead." Bonnie assured, unable to look towards her as she continued to lead them towards the stockroom.

The group eventually made it towards the stockroom and ran inside, closing the doors behind them. They were about to continue over towards the bay door. However, as luck would have it, a familiar face was already there waiting for them. Carver aimed his Ak-47 towards them as he moved in closer towards them forcing them to put their weapons down and then putting their hands in the air.

"I don't believe this. You want to disrespect me, fine. You want to throw away the life...I'm trying to build for us all...then fucking fine!" Carver told them while he paced up and down the room, still keeping them at gun point. "You want to run off with this dogshit group of cripple fucks, then fine! Be my guest."

While they were being held hostage, Lee had shifted his attention up towards the shelves and was surprised to see Clementine slowly shimming her way across the shelves. He had no idea what she was doing, but he sure hoped she could do something soon before Carver's executed them.

"But I will put a bullet in you and that baby before I let you leave again with my child, Rebecca!" Carver told Rebecca, refusing to let her leave again with his possible child.

"It's not yours, Bill!" Rebecca snapped, but she herself was uncertain herself if this was true or not.

"You don't fucking know that!" Carver clashed, yelling slightly as he aimed his gun towards each and every one of them. "And until we do, you're not going anywhere."

Clementine was now right above Carver, and all of a sudden, she pulled out a small Iver Johnson Derringer pistol that she somehow required and aimed it towards him, and without hesitation, she fired and was able to hit Carver in the side of his face, knocking him off balance. But the gun was that old that it did not do much damage.

Taking the opportunity to attack now that he was dazed, Lee raised his fist and punched Carver in his face, and then Luke proceeded to finish him off by snatching his Ak-47 out of his hands.

"Don't move!" Luke ordered, aiming the gun directly towards Carver's forehead.

Lee moved towards the shelves and caught Clementine in his arms as she jumped down and landed safely in her guardians grip. "Good job." Lee praised as he set her down.

"Luke, this ain't any of your business." Carver told him, shifting his gaze towards Rebecca who stared towards him with a hateful expression. "Rebecca and I just have a little custody battle on our hands. So if you please-"

"Shut the fuck up, Bill!" Luke ordered.

Rebecca continued glaring towards Carver with a hateful look and wanted nothing more than to kill him. She promised her husband she would avenge him after he was killed in the ski lodge, and that was a promise she wanted to keep. "Shoot him."

"What?" Luke was in shock to what she just said, and this caused him to take his attention away from Carver.

While he was not looking, Carver had suddenly holstered his Col Python out from his holster belt and prepared to shoot Luke. Lilly saw this and swiftly charged towards in front of Luke. "No!-"

A gunshot was fired and everyone was startled by it. Everyone shifted their gaze over towards where Lilly was standing and what they saw next left them shocked. Lilly was no longer standing and lied motionlessly across the ground, blood smearing out from her chest where she had been shot.

Before Carver had the chance to shoot anyone else, Luke had fired a gunshot into Carver's right leg, causing him to drop his gun. Lee proceeded to finish him off by shooting him in his other leg, crippling him and knocking him to the ground. "Aaaaaaaarrrrghh!"

Once he was down, Carlos had jumped down towards Lilly and placed his fingers onto her pulse, and then placed the side of his head onto her chest. But he could not find any sign of life. "...She's dead..."

Lee was in complete shock that Lilly had just given her life to save Luke. Anger filled up inside of him, and a monster inside of them that he always tried to contain since he saw his wife cheating on him with the senator was beginning to unleash. "You're fucking dead..."

Carver did not seem fearful by his threats and merely chuckled in response. "Fucking big man now, huh?"

Lee marched over towards Carver and pinned himself down on him like he did with Andy St. John and began to viciously beat Carver into submission, hitting him with his right fist, then his left fist, and then proceeded to do the same thing over and over again. No-one dared interrupt now as he continued beating Carver down until he was done with him.

After a couple of moments had passed, Lee had eventually grown tired of beating down Carver and stood himself back up to full height, watching as Carver spit up blood and was too weak to move. Despite the many hits he had just taken, he chuckled and glared towards Lee with his bruised and swollen face. "You ain't...Shit...Lee..."

"As long as you're dead...I don't give a fuck what I am." Lee replied as he pulled out his Glock 17 out from his back pocket and aimed it towards Carver's head. Without a second's hesitation, he pulled the trigger and hit Carver directly in his forehead, killing him instantly.

He took a couple of moments to catch his breath back and turned back towards the others, who picked up their weapons again. He turned towards the now dead Lilly and shot her in her head to prevent her from coming back as a walker. "Let's go, guys. We can't stay." Lee declared, beckoning for them to follow him over towards the bay doors.

Everyone was in shock to what had just happened, but decided he was right and it was time to go. The only one who did not seem shocked about Carver's death was Rebecca. She walked over towards his lifeless corpse and took his Cold Python that laid only a couple of feet away from him, and proceeded to follow the others outside. Mike and Jane open up the bay doors and escorted the group outside, knowing they had to get a move on before more guards arrived.

Once they were outside, everyone looked into the distance and was worried when they saw walkers in the distance. They would have to find a walker and get themselves covered up in walker guys as soon as possible. Rebecca was helped down by Luke due to her pregnancy, and Lee jumped down and almost fallen over. Carley was about to help, but he quickly assured her he was fine. "No, nah, -I'm all right, Carley. Come on, we need to get moving."

Lee noticed the many walkers in the distance and saw couple of them approaching them, and he could only assume this was not going to end well. "Oh, fuck. I thought they were coming from the south."

"They did...Looks like we're in the eye of it now." Rebecca replied, stating the obvious.

"Fuck...This is fucked." Mike admitted, suspecting that he may have just made the biggest mistake of his life.

"Here." Luke handed a hatchet towards Clementine as he pulled out his machete, preparing to fight off the horde of walkers. "You're going to need something."

"Thanks." Clementine thanked while she pulled out the Iver Johnson Derringer pistol that she took from Carver's office and threw it to the ground, knowing it was no longer useful. "Only one bullet..."

"_Summer heat got you hot? Cool off with our selection of above ground pools. Talk to a friendly..._"

Clementine raised her weapon when a walker was approaching her and she was able killed it with one hit. She turned around to see Jane had did the same, and by the looks of it, it was time to blend in.

Nearby, Carley looked towards her left when she heard gunfire coming from the rooftops. This was somewhat good as this would distract the walkers for a little while. "We need to get a move on."

Jane stabbed her knife into the walker's stomach and opened up its entire body, and collected its insides and began to smear them across herself. "You guys better hurry up and get to smearing if you want to live. Or you can die here...Doesn't matter to me."

Lee borrowed Clementine's hatchet and cut open the walker she had just killed and opened up its insides. He had to get himself, Carley, and Carley covered up before the walkers were among them.

"Oh, God..." Rebecca gasped.

"Ugh." Sarah cringed at the sight of seeing a walker's insides.

"Do it quick. " Jane warned them. "We need to get covered before the rest of them get close or we're fucked."

"This isn't going to work..." Rebecca admitted.

"I'll go first." Lee told Clementine, digging his hands into the walker and pulling out its body parts. He began to smear the blood all across himself, cringing slightly while doing so due to the smell. Once he was covered, he got Clementine to do his back for him while he eyed the many walkers in the distance heading their way.

"You're going to put that on yourself?" Sarah asked Lee, unsure if she wanted to go along with this.

"We have to, Sarah." Clementine replied while Lee rubbed walker guts across her back once he was covered. She took some more blood from the dead walker and began rubbing walker bloods around her face, her neck, and all across her torso. "Okay, now you. Turn around." she picked up some more walker blood and proceeded to run it against Sarah's back.

"Smells gross." Sarah admitted.

"No shit." Mike sarcastically replied.

"Everybody shut the fuck up and get covered." Jane ordered, knowing they did not have much more time.

Carlos, whom was now covered in walker guts, walked over towards his daughter and helped Clementine smear walker guys around her while keeping her calm. "It will be okay, honey. Just stay still."

"Are...are you sure?" Sarah inquired.

"I'm sure." Carlos assured as he began rubbing guts around the front part of her body while Clementine continued to rub her back. "There's nothing to fear if you remain calm. I'll keep you safe."

Nearby, Luke, Rebecca, Mike, Carley, Sarita, and Jane helped one and other rub themselves in walker guts as the horde was getting extremely close, and they had to get a move on.

"Hurry the fuck up." Jane requested, folding her arms together when Carlos had finally finished covering up Sarah.

Once everyone was covered in walker guts and were ready to go, Lee did a quick check on everyone to make sure they were ready. "Is everybody ready? They're almost here. Just stay calm and-"

"What the fuck is going on here?" a familiar voice inquired.

Everyone shifted their attention around to see it was Troy, whom had arrived when he noticed them out here. He had his AK-47 with him like usual. They had to do something before he did something he would not regret.

"What the hell sick shit?" Troy inquired when he noticed them covered in walker guts. "Why the hell do you all think you're doing?! Someone say something before I start-"

Troy noticed Luke about to reach for his Ak-47 and stopped him by aiming his gun towards him and forced him to stand up. "HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY! Don't you even fucking think about it motherfucker. I will fucking end you! You hear me?!"

Jane stood back up and slowly began approaching Troy seductively while she began to sweet talk him. She did not show fear while she was approaching him, despite the fact he was armed with an assault rifle. But what he was unaware of is that Jane was carrying a Glock 17 behind her back. "Troy. Troy, remember we talked about this."

"We did? What the fuck you talking about?" Troy asked as he began backing away from her, having no recall of her mentioning something like this.

"I told you I wanted to get out. You said you would help, and then I would help." Jane reminded him, whatever she had planned she would have to make this fast as the horde of walkers were extremely close.

"I thought you meant get out of the yard!" Troy replied. "Not whatever the fuck this shit is!"

The horde of walkers were now on them, and everyone was scared once they got close, but they were relieved to see Jane's plan was working, and the walkers passed them like they were one of them. Instead, they all had their attention focused on Troy.

"I did, but now we can leave. Troy...you can come with us." Jane offered.

"What?" Troy's expression softened as he lowered his gun and thought about her offer. He had to admit he sometimes was unnerved by Carver sometimes after witnessing what he did. "Well...where would we go?"

"Away from here...together..." Jane replied with a seductive smile across her face.

"All right then. I'll...I'll come." Troy admitted as he raised a smile across his face, taking up her offer to leave. He sniffed her and the smell of walker guts almost made him be sick. "Man, you smell really bad. You got to get a bath before we-"

While he was distracted, Jane had swiftly snatched his Ak-47 into her free hand, and brought out her Glock 17 and shot Troy in his crotch. He screamed in agonizing pain as he held his hands where his crotch use to be and collapsed to the ground. "AHH! YOU SHOT MY DICK OFF!"

"Come on." Jane told them as she handed Bonnie the rifle she took from Troy.

"You bitch!" Troy was now crying in pain after Jane had shot him, and he was unable to move.

They group all began to slowly move through the horde of walkers while Jane gave them advice on what to do. "Don't make any noise, got it? They might hear something they don't like. And for fuck's sake, WAlK. Act like you belong and you will belong."

Everyone began to move out as walkers devoured the helpless Troy. No-one expected Jane to do this, but it was necessary and now he finally paid for working with Carver and all the pleasure he took for hurting those who could not fight back like the heartless, twisted person he was.

Carlos took a quick look behind him to see Sarah and Clementine behind him. He hoped he would be able to protect her while they moved through the horde of walkers.

"We got this y'all..." Luke assured in a whispered tone. He turned towards the community for a moment, slowly so he did not draw any attention to himself. "Is that Tavia?"

Lee looked over at the roof of the building to see multiple of Carver's men shooting the walkers below them. They prayed one of them would not fire in their direction and shoot at them for mistaking them for a walker. They continued marching through the horde of walkers.

"Stay calm..." Jane told them.

"Shh..." Luke shushed them. "We're going to be okay."

"Don't run." Jane reminded.

"Watch Sarah." Mike whispered when he could hear Sarah beginning to panic.

"Shhh. Quiet, honey." Carlos soothed towards his daughter, knowing that if he did not keep her calm then her cover could be exposed, and he would not be able to help her without exposing himself. "Clementine, come help me! Calm her down. Please. Just say something. You're her friend."

Lee, whom was standing very close to Clementine, noticed a walker nearby that could hear Sarah's panicking tone and turned towards her to investigate.

Clementine was unsure on what she could say to keep Sarah calm. Whatever she was going to say, she had to do it quick.

"Clementine, you-" Carlos did not get the chance finish when he was suddenly shot in the side of his neck, causing him to collapse to the ground. "Aaargghgh!"

"DAD!" Sarah screamed, she could only watch as two walkers jumped onto her father and began to devour into him. She continued screaming towards him while placing her hands to her head. This by what Carlos meant by "Ceasing to function". "DAD! DADDDD!"

Her cries attract the attention of nearby walkers, and now everyone had to expose themselves in order to save her. Sarita acted first by stabbing a walker with her machete, Carley pulled out a Glock 17 and shot another walker behind Lee.

Bonnie proceeded help out by shooting walkers with her Ak-47. "Sarah!" she called out.

"Lee!" Carley gasped, firing more shots as she moved closer towards Luke and Bonnie.

"Man, goddamn it!" Mike yelled.

"Carley, I can't get to you." Lee called out to his girlfriend as he was unable to assist her.

Sarah was devastated by her father's death and began crying, and by the looks of it, she did not seem to realize she was in a horde of walkers. "Please daddy...no..."

"Sarah, shut up!" Clementine demanded. She did not wish to mean, but it was necessary if she was going to survive this. She looked around for an opening to escape, but there was not one and she turned back around to find her. "Sarah did you-"

Sarah became too hysterical and had run away into the horde of walkers, disappearing from everyone's sight.

Unable to help her friend, Clementine had to defend herself from the oncoming walkers.

"Clem, stay by me!" Lee shouted as he killed a walker that got close to them by whacking the side of its face with the hatchet. Another walker approached them, but instead of killing it, he leaped out of the way, pulling Clementine with him, and causing the walker to fall down. He jumped up to see another walker approaching her and stabbed it in its forehead. "Argh!" he groaned, unable to keep his strength up for much longer.

Lee ran through the horde of walkers with Clementine beside him when he heard a gasp, and what he saw next left him shocked. He watched as a walker had caught Sarita and was biting into her right wrist. She desperately tried to escape, but even if she did or not, Lee knew she was bitten and this means she was going to turn.

Sarita screamed as the walker but even more into her wrist, but the dramatizing experience soon ended when Lee killed the walker using the machete. He watched as Sarita clutched her bitten wrist, but he was unable to do anything now and he had to get himself and the others out of this horde before anyone else was bitten or shot.

* * *

**That cliffhanger! Lilly and Carver have been killed, Sarita is bit, and now the group must fight their way through the horde of walkers. Well, I guess I will see all of you when _Amid The Ruins_ has been released.**


End file.
